The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a central framework to guide sustainable urban development (2030 Agenda). However, it is not clear how and where SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) is being implemented, and how such implementation might be improved. We investigated this subject by analyzing United Nations (UN) SDG Good Practices data from 2018 to 2021. We applied five criteria to the 336 SDG 11 responses: (1) geography; (2) actors; (3) progress toward targets; (4) areas of implementation; and (5) scale of action. Overall, 86 of the 193 countries that adopted the 2030 Agenda submitted at least one SDG 11 good practice. 33 countries contributed 73.8% of the total, and most developing countries did not make submissions. A very small number of responses (between 2.6 and 9.1%) addressed equity-related targets. Good practices from developed countries were usually more technology-based and system-forming; developing countries typically focused on issues of day-to-day concern. Overall, this analysis points to the need for better and more systematic reporting on SDG 11 implementation, a more active public sector role in SDG implementation and reporting, more focus on dimensions related to social equity, and better formulation of urban sustainability targets and indicators in the future.

Recently quantum cosmology in tomographic representation was considered. as an important tool to analyze the quantum states of the early universe in relation with the subsequent classical evolution. Given a wave function the correspondent tomogram is defined proportional to the square modulus of its fractional Fourier transform. The classical limit obtained by taking the limit ℏ→0 can be compared with the classical tomogram obtained from the classical hamiltonian formalism. In this paper we show that a set of tomograms can be derived as exact solutions of a third order equation when a de Sitter quantum universe is considered. We finally discuss the limits of this approach to quantum cosmology because the extension to equations with arbitrary potentials can become extremely complicated for potentials given by algebraic polynomials of degree greater than two and therefore also for potentials expressible by arbitrary functions.

Titania is one of the most comprehensively studied nanostructures due to its widespread applications in production of catalytic, gas- sensing and corrosion- resistance materials [1]. M-polynomial of nanotubes has been vastly investigated as it produces many degree-based topological indices which are numerical parameters capturing structural and chemical properties. These indices are used in the development of quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) in which the biological activity and other properties of molecules are correlated with their structure like boiling point, stability, strain energy etc of chemical compounds. In this paper, we determine M-polynomials of single-walled titanium (SW TiO2) nanotubes and recover important topological degree based indices of them to theoretically judge these nanotubes. We also use Maple to plot surfaces associated to different types of single-walled titanium (SW TiO2) nanotubes.

Cultural tourism in Tanzania presents a diverse tapestry of traditions, varied ethnic groups, and historical accounts. This article aims to pinpoint areas for further exploration in the cultural tourism sector of Tanzania and analyze their potential impacts. The study conducted a systematic review of the literature following established inclusion criteria as well as the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and meta-analysis guidelines. A total of 21 articles focused on Tanzania Cultural Heritage Tourism from sources such as Google Scholar and web databases were examined, revealing several research gaps, including theoretical, contextual and methodological aspects. Furthermore, the research offers insights into theoretical implications and recommends avenues for future studies that could advance the field by addressing these knowledge gaps providing valuable direction to new researchers interested in exploring these specific areas as well as practitioners seeking a comprehensive understanding of various aspects related to Tanzania's cultural heritage tourism

This review critically examines the various ways in which the mechanical properties of wood have been understood. Despite the immense global importance of wood in construction, most understanding of its elastic and inelastic properties is based on models developed for other materials. Such models neglect wood’s cellular and fibrous nature. This review thus questions how well models that were originally developed for homogeneous and effectively continuous materials can describe wood’s mechanical properties. For example, the elastic moduli of wood have been found by many authors to depend on the size of the test specimen. Such observations are incompatible with classical elasticity theory. There is also much uncertainty about how well elastic moduli can be defined for wood. An analysis of different models for size effects of various inelastic properties of wood shows that these models only approximate the observed behaviour, and do not predict or explain the scatter in the results. A more complete understanding of wood’s mechanical properties must take account of it being in some sense intermediate between a material and a structure.

Radiological imaging is an essential component of a swallowing assessment. Artificial intelligence (AI), and especially deep learning (DL) models, have enhanced the efficiency and efficacy through which imaging is interpreted, and subsequently have important implications for swallow diagnostics and intervention planning. However, the application of AI for the interpretation of videofluoroscopic swallowing studies (VFSS) is still emerging. This review showcases recent literature in the use of AI to interpret VFSS and highlights clinical implications for speech pathologists (SPs). With a surge in AI research, there have been advances made in dysphagia assessment. Several studies have demonstrated successful implementation of DL algorithms to analyze VFSS. Notably, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been used to detect pertinent aspects of the swallowing process with high levels of precision. DL algorithms have the potential to streamline VFSS interpretation, improve efficiency and accuracy, and enable precise interpretation of instrumental dysphagia evaluation, which is especially advantageous when access to skilled clinicians is not ubiquitous. By enhancing precision, speed, and depth of VFSS interpretation, SPs can obtain a more comprehensive understanding of swallow physiology and deliver targeted and timely intervention that is tailored towards the individual. This has practical applications for both clinical practice and dysphagia research. As this research area grows and AI technologies progress, the application of DL in the field of VFSS interpretation is clinically beneficial and has the potential to transform dysphagia assessment and management. With broader validation and inter-disciplinary collaborations, AI-augmented VFSS interpretation is likely to transform swallow evaluation and ultimately improve outcomes for individuals with dysphagia.

Recently, Electric Two-Wheelers ETW are changing the face of the global automotive market. This study focused on selecting proper material and mechanical isolation gap to design a protective enclosure for the battery pack of ETW. The integration of the Failure, Modes, Mechanism and Effect Analysis (FMMEA) method is utilized to develop the interface matrix and the severity index of different components of the enclosure. By analyzing different forces from the road conditions, dynamics during turn, acceleration, and deceleration with the enclosure, it becomes a crucial load-bearing element. Employing Finite Element Modeling (FEM), structural strength using materials like AL6061, Q235, C22000, DC 01 and Teflon are assessed under varying static, dynamic and thermal conditions. Modal analysis is conducted to observe the excitation frequencies where the maximum deformation for the metal enclosure is observed beyond 500Hz. AL6061 material that can withstand the stresses and deformations that are under allowable stress limits with negligible deformation is most preferable material based on the results. Minimal of 2.5 mm gap to be provided in case of metal casing and 10mm in case of Teflon is proven.

In this study, I will present some documentary evidence that Carlos Drummond de Andrade’s poem “A Máquina do Mundo” [The Machine of the World] (1949) was based on prior reflections contained in a forgotten newspaper article entitled “Poesia e Pesadelo” [Poetry and Nightmare] (1949). In that article, Drummond critically analyzed some of the theses of Stephen Spender's essay “What Is Modern in Modern Poetry” (1948), which had just been published in The Tiger's Eye magazine. As soon as he read Spender's text, Drummond wrote “Poetry and Nightmare” and began to elaborate a narrative poem whose protagonist would be a machine. All the documentary evidence indicates that Drummond took Spender's lessons as touchstones for the elaboration of the narrative and allegorical structure of “The Machine of the World.” According to the interpretation I am proposing here, Drummond, in writing the machine poem, put into practice at least six lessons drawn from Spender’s essay, namely: 1) the modern poet must represent the tension between the external machinelike landscape and the landscape of the inner world of the creative imagination; 2) he must also represent the machinelike, ugly, and urban world around him in a beautiful and poetic way; 3) he must avoid the misconceptions of excessive utopian visionarism, as well as creeping realism; 4) he must reject the imperative of political engagement, whose principle of action states that poetry has a transformative mission in society; 5) he must free himself from the obsession with free verse as the only form of modern poetry and start using the traditional fixed forms; 6) he must understand machines as poetic symbols of human passions, and not just as exotic objects foreign to human reality. My conclusion is that, after reading Spender’s essay, Drummond changed his aesthetic and philosophical understanding of what defines the essence of modern poetry, both in terms of form and content.

Abstract: As a low-input crop, Miscanthus offers numerous advantages that, in addition to agricultural applications, permits its exploitation for energy, fuel, and material production. Depending on the Miscanthus genotype, season, and harvest time as well as plant component (leaf versus stem), correlations between structure and properties of the corresponding isolated lignins differ. Here, a comparative study is presented between lignins isolated from M. x giganteus, M. sinensis, M. robustus and M. nagara using a catalyst-free organosolv pulping process. The lignins from different plant constituents are also compared regarding their similarities and differences regarding monolignol ratio and important linkages. Results showed that the plant genotype has the weakest influence on monolignol content and interunit linkages. In contrast, structural differences are more significant among lignins of different harvest time and/or season. Analyses were performed using fast and simple methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Data was assigned to four different linkages (A: b-O-4 linkage, B: phenylcoumaran, C: resinol, D: b-unsaturated ester). In conclusion, A content is particularly high in leaf-derived lignins at just under 70 % and significantly lower in stem and mixture lignins at around 60 % and almost 65 %. The second most common linkage pattern is D in all isolated lignins, the proportion of which is also strongly dependent on the crop portion. Both stem and mixture lignins, have a relatively high share of approximately 20 % or more (maximum is M. sinensis Sin2 with over 30 %). In the leaf-derived lignins, the proportions are significantly lower on average. Stem samples should be chosen if the highest possible lignin content is desired, specifically from the M. x giganteus genotype, which revealed lignin contents up to 27 %. Due to the better frost resistance and higher stem stability, M. nagara offers some advantages compared to M. x giganteus. Miscanthus crops are shown to be very attractive lignocellulose feedstock (LCF) for second generation biorefineries and lignin generation in Europe.

Trophoblasts are the first cell-type to be specified during embryogenesis, and they are essential for placental morphogenesis and function. Trophoblast stem (TS) cells are the progenitor cells for all trophoblast lineages; control of TS cell differentiation into distinct trophoblast subtypes is not well understood. Mice lacking the transcription factor OVO-like 2 (OVOL2) fail to produce a functioning placenta, and die around embryonic day 10.5, suggesting that OVOL2 may be critical for trophoblast development. Therefore, our objective was to determine the role of OVOL2 in mouse TS cell fate. We found that OVOL2 was highly expressed in mouse placenta and differentiating TS cells. Placentas and TS cells lacking OVOL2 showed poor trophoblast differentiation potential, including increased expression of stem-state associated genes (Eomes, Esrrb, Id2) and decreased levels of differentiation-associated transcripts (Gcm1, Tpbpa, Prl3b1, Syna). Ectopic OVOL2 expression in TS cells elicited precocious differentiation. OVOL2 bound proximate to the gene encoding inhibitor of differentiation 2 (ID2), a dominant negative helix-loop-helix protein, and directly repressed its activity. Overexpression of ID2 was sufficient to reinforce the TS cell stem state. Our findings reveal a critical role of OVOL2 as a regulator of TS cell differentiation and placental development, in-part by coordinating repression of ID2.

Background/Purpose: Multimorbidity of malaria, anaemia, and malnutrition (MAMM) is a condition in which an individual cohabits with two or more of these health outcomes and is becoming an emergent public health concern in sub-Saharan African countries. The independent associations of a child’s demographic variables and socioeconomic disparities with a child’s health outcomes have been established in literature. However, the effects of the intersection of these factors on MAMM, while accounting for other covariates have not been studied. Therefore, this study aimed to determine how children’s sex, age and socioeconomic status interact to explain the variations in MAMM among children aged 6-59 months in Nigeria. Methods: Data from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey and the 2018 National Human Development Report (NHDR) were used. The study includes weighted samples of 10,184 children aged 6-59 months in Nigeria. A three-level multilevel mixed effect ordinal logistic regression model such that individual characteristics at level 1 are nested in communities at level 2 and nested in states at level 3 was used. Subsequently, predictive probability charts and average adjusted probability tables were used to interpret the intersectional effects. Five models were created in this scenario. Model 1 is the interaction between the child's sex and wealth status; model 2, child's sex and age; model 3 is between child's age and wealth status; model 4 has the three 2-way interactions of child's sex, age, and household wealth status, and model 5 includes model 4 and the 3-way interactions between a child's sex, age, and wealth quintiles. Results: The prevalence of children with ‘none of the three diseases’ outcomes was 17.3% (1767/10,184), while, 34.4% (3499/10,184) had ‘only one of the diseases’, and 48.3% (4,918/10,184) cohabit with ‘two or more’ of MAMM. However, in the multivariate analyses, model 3 was the best fit compared with other models, so, that the two-way interaction effects of a child's age and wealth status are significant predictors in the model. Children aged 36-47 months living in the poorest households have the probability of 0.11, 0.18, and 0.32 of contracting MAMM above the probability of children of the same age and live in the middle, more prosperous and richest households, respectively, while all other covariates are held constant. Thus, the variation in MAMM over a child's age differs depending on the household wealth quintile. In other words, as the children grow older, variations in MAMM become more evident between the rich and the poor household. Conclusion: Therefore, it is recommended that policies that are geared toward economic redistribution will help bridged the disparities observed in multiple diseases among children aged 6-59 months in Nigeria

Understanding the factors which control endothelial cell (EC) function and angiogenesis is crucial for developing the horse as a disease model, but equine ECs remain poorly studied. In this study we have optimised methods for the isolation and culture of equine aortic endothelial cells (EA-oECs) and characterised their angiogenic functions in vitro. Mechanical dissociation, followed by magnetic purification using an anti-VE-cadherin antibody, resulted in EC-enriched cultures suitable for further study. Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) increased EAoEC proliferation rate and stimulated scratch wound closure and tube formation by EAoECs on extracellular matrix. Pharmacological inhibitors of FGFR1 (SU5402) or MEK (PD184352) blocked FGF2-induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation and functional responses, suggesting that these are dependent on FGFR1/MEK-ERK signalling. In marked contrast, VEGF-A had no effect on EAoEC proliferation, migration or tubulogenesis and did not promote ERK1/2 phosphorylation, indicating a lack of sensitivity to this classical pro-angiogenic growth factor. Gene expression analysis showed that, unlike human ECs, FGFR1 is expressed by EAoECs at a much higher level than both VEGFR1 and VEGFR2. These results suggest a predominant role for FGF2 versus VEGF-A in controlling the angiogenic functions of equine ECs. Collectively, our novel data provide a sound basis for stud-ying angiogenic processes in the horse and lay the foundations for comparative studies of EC biology in horses versus humans.

Abstract: Measures to counteract AMD generation need to start at the mineral surface, inhibiting mineral-oxidizing, acidophilic microbes. Laboratory and long-term field tests with pyrite-containing mining wastes, where Carbonaceous Phosphate Mining Waste (CPMW) was added, resulted in low acidity, and near neutral drainage. The effect was reproducible, nd confirmed by several independent research groups. This was shown to involve an organic coating, likely a biofilm. The biofilm formation was confirmed when CPMW was added to lignite coal waste with an initial pH of 1. Forty five days after the addition, the coal waste was dominated by heterotrophic microorganisms in biofilms. A review of the scientific literature supports that CPMW has physical and chemical characteristics which are capable of inducing a strong inhibitory effect on sulphide oxidation by forming an organic coating over the mineral surface. CPMW characteristics appear to provide the cornerstone of a new technology for the reduction of sulphide oxidation in mine wastes. An hypothesis for testing this technology is presented which could result in an economical and sustainable approach to mine waste and water management.

We describe a vision for a national-scale heavy mineral (HM) map generated through automated mineralogical identification and quantification of HMs contained in floodplain sediments from large catchments covering most of Australia. The composition of the sediments reflects the dominant rock types in each catchment, with the generally resistant HMs largely preserving the mineralogical fingerprint of their host protoliths through the weathering-transport-deposition cycle. Heavy mineral presence/absence, absolute and relative abundance, and co-occurrence are metrics useful to map, discover and interpret catchment lithotype(s), geodynamic setting, magmatism, metamorphic grade, alteration or mineralization. Underpinning this vision is a pilot project, focusing on a subset of the national sediment sample archive, which is used to demonstrate the feasibility of the larger, national-scale project. We preview a bespoke, cloud-based mineral network analysis (MNA) tool to visualize, explore and discover relationships between HMs as well as between them and geological setting or mineral deposits. We envisage that the Heavy Mineral Map of Australia and MNA tool will contribute significantly to mineral prospectivity analysis and modeling here, particularly for technology critical elements and their host minerals, which are central to the global economy transitioning to a more sustainable, decarbonized paradigm.

The preparation of transition metal salt ammine complexes having oxidizing anions is a great challenge due to the reaction between the ammonia and oxidizing anions during the synthesis of these materials. However, they have an important role in the development of new oxidants in organic chemistry and especially as precursors in the preparation of mixed metal oxides and alloys in controlled temperature thermal decomposition reactions. Therefore, the synthetic procedures to prepare the complexes of transition metal permanganate, pertechnetate, and perrhenate (VIIB group tetraoxometallates) salts with ammonia as ligand or co-ligand have been comprehensively reviewed. The available data about the structure and spectroscopic properties of these compounds, including the hydrogen bonds that act as redox reaction centers under their thermal decomposition are given and evaluated. Their thermal decomposition processes and products have been summarized. The available pieces of information about their role in organic oxidation reactions like the oxidation of benzyl alcohols, and regeneration of oxo-compounds from oximes and phenylhydrazones including the kinetics of these processes have also been collected.

In this contribution to the Festschrift for Prof. Remo Ruffini, we investigated a formulation of quantum gravity based on the Wheeler-DeWitt (WDW) equation combined with the classical concepts of the branch-cut cosmology, which contemplates as a new scenario for the origin of the Universe, a smooth transition region between the contraction phase, prior to the primordial singularity, and the subsequent expansion phase. Through the introduction of an energy-dependent effective potential, which describes the space-time curvature associated with the embedding geometry and its coupling with the cosmological constant and matter fields, solutions of the WDW equation for the wave function of the Universe are obtained. The Lagrangian density is quantized through the standard procedure of raising the Hamiltonian, the helix-like complex scale factor of branched cosmology as well as the corresponding conjugate momentum to the category of quantum operators. As a novelty, ambiguities in the ordering of the quantum operators are overcome with the introduction of a set of ordering factors α, whose values are restricted to the integers α=[0,1,2], since non-integers have no physical meaning, allowing this way a broader class of solutions for the wave function of the Universe. As another novelty, additional energy-dependent parametrizations are considered, more specifically, in addition to a branched universe filled with underlying background vacuum energy, matter and radiation, in order to make contact with standard model calculations, we additionally supplement the formulation with baryon matter, dark matter and quintessence contributions. As an additional novelty, the boundary conditions for the wave function of the Universe are imposed by assuming the Bekenstein criterion. Our results indicate this way, as a novelty conclusion, the consistency of a topological quantum leap, or alternatively a quantum tunneling, for the transition region of the early universe in contrast to the classic branched cosmology view of a smooth transition.

Two-wheeler vehicles are the most significant mode of transportation for Kenyans in both rural and urban regions thereby contributing to local air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The transition to electric two-wheeler vehicles can make a significant contribution to reducing GHG and improving the socio-economic lives of people living in rural Kenya. Re-newable energy systems can considerably contribute to the charging of electric two-wheeled vehicles, thus leading to the reduction of carbon emissions and the expansion of renewable energy penetration in rural Kenya. Therefore, this paper focuses on integrating and modelling electric two-wheeled vehicles (e-bikes) into an off-grid photovoltaic Water-Energy Hub located in the Lake Victoria Region of Western Kenya using the Conventional and Renewable Energy Opti-mization (CARNOT) Toolbox in MATLAB / Simulink. Electricity demand data obtained from the Water-Energy Hub was investigated and analysed. Potential solar energy surplus was identified and electric two-wheeler vehicles were integrated based on the surplus. A field measurement investigation on the energy consumption of the electric two-wheeler vehicles based on the rider’s driving behaviour was also carried. The annual electricity demand of 27,267 kWh, photovoltaic (PV) electricity production of 37,785 kWh with an electricity deficit of 370 kWh were obtained from the simulation results. To reduce the electricity deficit, a load optimisation algorithm was de-veloped to optimally integrate the electric 2-wheeler vehicle into the Water-Energy Hub. It was found that using the load optimisation algorithm, the annual electricity deficit was reduced to 1 kWh and the annual electricity demand was increased by 11% (30,767 kWh) which is enough to charge 4 additional electric two-wheeler batteries daily.

From a differential geometric perspective, information geometry (IG) aims to characterise the structure of statistical geodesic models. The research done for this paper offers a novel method for modelling the information geometry of a queuing system. From the perspective of IG, the manifold of the transient M/M/infinity queue is described in this context. The Fisher Information matrix (FIM) as well as the inverse of (FIM), (IFIM) of transient M/M/infinity QM are devised. In addition to that, new results that uncovered the significant impact of stability of QM on the existence of (IFIM) are obtained. Moreover, the Geodesic equations of motion of the coordinates of the underlying transient are obtained. Also, it is revealed that stable QM is developable (i.e., has a zero Gaussian curvature) and has a non-zero Ricci Curvature Tensor (RCT). Novel stability dynamics of transient M/M/iInfinity queue manifold is revealed by discovering the mutual dual impact between the behaviour of (RCT) and the stability(instability) phases of M/M/Infinity QM. Furthermore, a new discovery that presents the significant impact of stability of queue manifold and the continuity of the unique representation between M/G/1 queue manifold and Ricci Curvature Tensor (RCT). The information matrix exponential (IME) is devised. Also, it is shown that stability of the devised (IME) enforces the instability of M/M/ Infinity QM. More interestingly, novel relativistic info-geometric queueing theoretic links are revealed .

A new set of basis functions is presented. The foundation in mathematics is established. To reconstruct a signal, it is compared to the Fourier basis functions. The M-basis functions' potential applications are also presented.

Vacuum drying can dehydrate materials further than dry heat methods while protecting sensitive materials from thermal degradation. Many industries have shifted to vacuum drying as cost- or time-saving measures. Small-scale vacuum drying, however, has been limited by high costs of specialty scientific tools. To make vacuum drying more accessible, this study provides design and performance information for a small-scale open source vacuum oven, which can be fabricated from off-the-shelf and 3-D printed components. The oven is tested for drying speed and effective-ness on both waste plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and a consortium of bacteria developed for bioprocessing of terephthalate wastes to assist in distributed recycling of PET for both additive manufacturing as well as potential food. Both materials can be damaged when exposed to high temperatures, making vacuum drying a desirable solution. The results showed the open source vacuum oven was effective at drying both plastic and biomaterials, drying at a higher rate than a hot-air dryer for small samples or for low volumes of water. The system can be constructed for less than 20% of commercial vacuum dryer costs for several laboratory-scale applications including dehydration of bio-organisms, drying plastic for distributed recycling and additive manufacturing, and chemical processing.

Abstract Introduction: The mHealth active participant centred (MAPC) adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) surveillance is a promising area for early AEFI detection resulting in risk minimisation. Passive (spontaneous) AEFI surveillance is the backbone for vaccine pharmacovigilance, but has inherent drawbacks of under reporting, and requires strengthening with active surveillance methods. The Zimbabwe stimulated telephone assisted rapid safety surveillance (Zm-STARSS) randomized controlled trial (RCT) sought to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of AEFI detection using a short message service (SMS) and computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) approach. Method: A multicentre Zm-STARSS RCT enrolled consented adult vaccinees or parents or guardians of children receiving vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, at study vaccination clinics. At enrolment study participants were randomised to either SMS-CATI group or control group. SMS prompts were sent on days 0-2 and 14 post-vaccination to SMS-CATI group to ascertain if a medical event following immunisation (MEFI) had occurred. However, no SMSs were sent to the control group. SMS-CATI group who responded “Yes” to SMS prompts were interviewed by research healthcare workers (RHCWs) who completed a CATI to determine if an MEFI/AEFI had occurred whilst an AEFI in control group was determined from passive AEFI reporting channels. The primary study outcome was the AEFI detection rate in the SMS-CATI group compared to the control group. Results: A total of 704 (31%) participants responded to the SMS prompts, with 75% (528/704) indicating “No” and 25% (176/704) "Yes” to experiencing a MEFI. However, 31% (55/176) who responded “Yes” did not complete a CATI survey, but 69% (121/176) did; and 64% (77/121) of these indicated negative to AEFI experience whilst 36% (44/121) were affirmative. There were no AEFI reported in control group participants. Zm-STARSS showed promising results in that the AEFI detection rate using SMS-CATI was 2% (44/2280) on an intention to treat cohort. Conclusion: Despite the low SMS response and CATI completion rate, we demonstrated that Zm-STARSS SMS system improves AEFI detection compared to passive AEFI surveillance. We recommend cost-effective multi-channel digital approaches for holistic pharmacovigilance to improve AEFI detection in LMICs for all vaccines.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela were two of the world's most iconic civil (political) (human) rights advocates and leaders of all time. Both advocated for, and to varying degrees, applied elements of peaceful protests to the achievement of their goals. Both spent time in jail, often concurrently, but eventually forced their respective countries to extend the same rights that white populations had denied Africans and African Americans. For the US, civil rights, voting rights, right to education, housing and housing loans suggested that equality had been achieved, capped in South Africa by the election of Nelson Mandela as the first majority-rule president, and in the US, by Barack Obama’s election to the presidency. Yet the historical over-policing, police mistreatment and more generally, the judicial system’s inordinate ‘targeting’ of African Americans, with egregious cases running from Emmett Till to Rodney King to Walter Scott to Breonna Taylor to George Floyd to Rayshard Brooks and thousands of others shows the danger of such magical thinking. The now-persistent global wave pursuing human rights, civil rights and the right to be treated equally, primarily driven by the loosely-organized Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, has become the leading voice in pursuit of equality. Riots such as those in LA, protests in Ferguson and everywhere in summer 2020 has ushered new civil rights campaign. In the US and elsewhere, it has morphed to include historical issues such as monuments to colonialism, the US civil war, slavery and slave owners and traders, institutions, companies and people whose wealth and existence has links to slavery. Instructively, the protests persisted even as COVID-19, the hundred-year plague, continues to ravage the world. Lost in the moment is the absence of central leadership and leaders such as MLK or Mandela. Their charisma and effectiveness has been lacking for 50 years. This paper evaluates whether this has led to inconsistent civil and human rights pursuit for equality, or whether perchance, Mandela and MLK were extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime transformative leaders uniquely selected by history for their time.

1. Background: The global COVID-19 lockdowns are unique psychological factors, requiring adjustment and coping. This illustrative, South African case study investigated the influence the COVID-19 lockdown context would have on meditation and physical activity. As these were lifestyle patterns the null hypothesis was of no change. 2. Method: The methodology consisted of quantitative and qualitative phases. The quantitative phase was an empirical, case study review of data from the author’s HeartMath and Fitbit electronic devices, as from 9 November 2019 to 31 July 2021. This consisted of coherence and achievement data from the HeartMath Inner Balance application (app), as well as distance and activity data from the Fitbit app. The qualitative phase consisted of the selection and illustration of meditation sessions documented over lockdown. 3. Results: The highly significant increases in physical activity and meditation coherence and achievement collectively indicated significant health promotion over the COVID-19 Lockdown period. Subtle energetic, experiential descriptions of meditation apprehensions resonated and supported these quantitative findings. 4. Conclusions: COVID-19 lockdown has meant transformation, humility, and reordering of priorities. The meditation descriptions amplified information from the HeartMath and Fitbit electronic devices, together co-creating conscious, embodied, relationship science for discussion, instruction, and further research.

Abstract: Comparing outcrop data to laboratory results is important to verify and validate experiments of analogue and reservoir materials especially regarding conditions for deformation experiments. This is important better understand highly complex carbonate reservoir strata and their response to changes in subsurface conditions, reducing subsurface uncertainty. This study develops methods to allow for a more straightforward comparison of outcrop data (m-scale) with experimentally created fracture arrays developed in cylindrical samples (cm-scale). The main objective is to assess usefulness of experimentally-produced fracture networks as analogues for subsurface structures, typically at the meter and above scale by developing new techniques to use the lab deformation. It analyses key characteristics of laboratory-induced fracture networks by adapting scanline methods to use with x-ray tomography (XRT) images to allow for comparison with outcrop and field data. To test and verify these new methods two low permeability carbonate samples were used for deformation testing and analysis. Applying the different scanline methods we show that they can be used to analyse lab induced fractures (mm to cm-scale) identified in XRT images for comparison with outcrop data (m-scale). In addition, these methods also allow for quantification of fracture network attributes e.g. fracture spacing, fracture apertures, orientation. This new data bridges the gap between micro-scanlines using thin sections and outcrop scanlines.

The increasing concern regarding climate change continues to motivate research in the Arctic. Within the delicate cycle of the cryosphere, leads are an important kinematic feature that regulates heat balances and gaseous exchanges in the Arctic. Therefore, it is necessary to quantify the genesis of leads over time to identify when and where changes are occurring. The use of learning techniques is one such tool that is used to identify the characteristics of seasonal ice variability. This paper utilizes the Sentinel-1 RADAR imagery with a support vector machine learning scheme through Google Earth Engine to classify lead types in the Beaufort Sea.

We report on the occurrence of natural Magnesium Alumina Silicate Hydrate (M-(A)-S-H) cement at Feragen and Leka in eastern and western Trøndelag Norway, respectively. Both occurrences are located in the sub-arctic climate zone and form in glacial till and moraine material deposited on ultramafic rock during the Weichselian glaciation. Weathering of serpentinized peridotite dissolve brucite and result in a relative high pH alkaline fluid that subsequently reacts with the felsic minerals of the till (quartz, plagioclase, K-feldspar) to form a cement consisting of an amorphous material or a mixture of nanocrystalline Mg-rich phyllosilicates, including illite. The presence of plagioclase in the till results in the enrichment of alumina in the cement, i.e., forms M-A-S-H instead of the M-S-H cement. Dissolution of quartz results in numerous etch-pits and negative quartz crystals filled with M-A-S-H cement. Where the quartz dissolution is faster that the cement precipitation, a honeycomb-like texture is formed. Compositionally the cemented till (tillite) contains more MgO and has a higher loss of ignition than the till, suggesting that the cement is formed by a MgO fluid that previously reacted with the peridotite. The M-(A)-S-H cemented till represent a new type of duricrust, coined magsilcrete. The study of natural Mg-cement provides information on peridotites as a Mg-source for Mg-cement and as a feedstock for CO2 sequestration.

The misuse of antibiotics during the last decades led to the emergence of multidrug resistant pathogenic bacteria. This phenomenon constitutes a major public health issue. Consequently, the discovery of new antibacterials in the short term is crucial. Colicins, due to their antibacterial properties, thus constitute good candidates. These toxin proteins, produced by E. coli to kill enteric relative competitors, exhibit cytotoxicity through ionophoric activity or essential macromolecule degradation. Among the 25-colicin types known to date, colicin M (ColM) is the only one colicin interfering with peptidoglycan biosynthesis. Accordingly, ColM develops its lethal activity in E. coli periplasm by hydrolyzing the last peptidoglycan precursor, lipid II, into two dead-end products, thereby leading to cell lysis. Since the discovery of its unusual mode of action, several ColM orthologs have also been identified based on sequence alignments; all of the characterized ColM-like proteins display the same enzymatic activity of lipid II degradation and narrow antibacterial spectra. This publication aims at being an exhaustive review about what is currently known on this new family of antibacterial enzymes as well as on their potential use of food preservatives or therapeutic agents.

Based upon a radically new approach, this paper describes a 2-box absolute flow model that calculates the CO₂ transfer between the atmosphere and a terrestrial / ocean mixing reservoir. Given the inputs of anthropogenic fossil fuel emissions (CO2ff), atmospheric CO₂ mixing-ratio and nuclear weapons bomb yields, the model calculates atmospheric d¹³C and Δ¹⁴C time-series, with the level of agreement for d¹³C being to within ± 0.05 ‰, for Δ¹⁴C to within ± 3‰, spanning 200 years. The model contains only seven internal parameters which are varied to optimize the fit. Yet according to conventional wisdom, this model should not work. It is commonly held that the ¹³C and ¹⁴C isotopic forms of carbon bypass seawater carbonate chemistry, resulting in very different absorption properties (Revelle factor) as compared to ¹²C. This study rejects this assumption, and uses the same residence time and reservoir mixing properties for all isotopes. The paper includes an analysis justifying why the isotopic bypass of the Revelle factor is not significant. The study describes the use of the model to track CO2ff takeup using two separate measures, a) the amount of molecular CO2ff remaining in the atmosphere and b) the amount of atmospheric growth attributable to CO2ff, thereby resolving discrepancies in published values.

The increased adoption of information and communication technology for smart grid applications will require innovative cyber-physical system (CPS) testbeds to support research and education in the field. The groundbreaking CPS testbeds with realistic and scalable platforms have progressively gained interest in recent years, with electric power flowing in the physical layer and information flowing in the network layer. However, CPSs are critical infrastructures and not designed for testing or direct training, as any misbehaving in an actual system operation could cause a catastrophic impact on its operation. Based on that, it is not easy to efficiently train professionals in CPSs. Aiming to support the advancement and encourage the training of industry professionals, this paper proposes and develops a complete testbed with commercial tools. The testbed can reliably replicate the performance of smart grid systems and the main potential cyber threats that electric grids may face. The complex interdependencies between the cyber and physical domains are discussed in detail, and different case scenarios are presented, providing insightful guidelines for key features and design decisions for future smart grid testbeds.

Although total nett CO₂ atmospheric flow can be estimated with reasonable accuracy, the contributing gross fluxes between the atmosphere and the earth's surface are poorly understood. This paper presents a method, driven by the objective of simplicity, by which the global outflow and inflow of CO₂ between atmosphere and a globally equivalent "mixing reservoir" can be estimated, using the isotopes ¹⁴C and ¹³C as tracers. It has been asserted that the isotopic carbon in CO₂ cannot be directly used as a tracer in flow studies because it is not subject to the Revelle factor. Evidence is provided showing that this view is mistaken. The model contains 7 key parameters which are used to create synthetic records of Δ¹⁴C and d¹³C spanning 200 years or more, including during the period of atmospheric weapons testing and its decay known as the "bomb pulse". By optimising the fit between these computed values and the historical records of d¹³C and Δ¹⁴C, all seven key parameters are determined. The effective "mixing reservoir" is thereby determined to have a size around six times that of the atmosphere, with global outflux rising from 39.7 GTC yr-1 in 1750 to 58.9 GTC/yr in 2020, this figure probably not including annually cycled carbon.

Floods and droughts are driven, in part, by spatial patterns of extreme rainfall. Heat waves are driven by spatial patterns of extreme temperature. It is therefore of interest to design statistical methodologies that allow the identification of likely patterns of extreme rain or temperature from observed historical data. The standard work-horse for identifying patterns of climate variability in historical data is Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and its variants. But PCA optimizes for variance not spatial extremes, and so there is no particular reason why the first PCA spatial pattern should identify, or even approximate, the types of patterns that may drive these phenomena, even if the linear assumptions underlying PCA are correct. We present an alternative pattern identification algorithm that makes the same linear assumptions as PCA, but which can be used to explicitly optimize for spatial extremes. We call the method Directional Component Analysis (DCA), since it involves introducing a preferred direction, or metric, such as `sum of all points in the spatial field'. We compare the first PCA and DCA spatial patterns for US rainfall anomalies on a 6 month timescale, using the sum metric for the definition of DCA in order to focus on total rainfall anomaly over the domain, and find that they are somewhat different. The definitions of PCA and DCA result in the first PCA spatial pattern having the larger explained variance of the two patterns, while the first DCA spatial pattern, when scaled appropriately, has a higher likelihood and greater total rainfall anomaly, and indeed is the pattern with the highest total rainfall anomaly for any given likelihood. In combination these two patterns yield more insight into rainfall variability and extremes than either pattern on its own.

This paper presents a new implementation of a 2-box absolute flow model, enabling the calculation of CO₂ transfer between the atmosphere and a mixing reservoir representing the combined effect of the terrestrial and ocean regions. The model uses published values of anthropogenic CO₂ fossil fuel emissions (CO2ff), atmospheric CO₂ mixing ratio and nuclear weapons bomb yields, to compute atmospheric d¹³C and Δ¹⁴C time-series. The level of agreement between the calculated values and the accepted values for d¹³C is within ± 0.05 ‰, and for Δ¹⁴C is within ± 3‰, spanning 200 years. The model contains only seven internal parameters; these are varied to optimize the fit, leading to reasonable parameter values, indicating the validity of the method. In addition, the model shows how a rising CO₂ exchange influx fluctuating with surface temperature is compatible with a nett atmospheric CO₂ sink. The study demonstrates that a single CO₂ residence time applies to both the ¹⁴C bomb pulse and the anthropogenic flux, contrary to the conventional view that "bomb radiocarbon and anthropogenic CO₂ do not behave identically." [Joos 1994 Nature 370, 181–182]. It is shown that the difference in behaviour, claimed to be due to seawater chemistry, is not significant in practice since fluctuating bulk carbon dominates fluctuating isotopic ratio. A new analysis of the airborne fraction indicates that the assumption of a time-dependent exchange influx results in a similar residence time for bulk CO₂ as for ¹⁴C in the nuclear bomb pulse, reinforcing the view that the ¹²C, ¹³C and ¹⁴C carbon isotopic forms of CO₂ behave similarly in the carbon cycle.

Earth’s extinction crisis is escalating, and threat classification schemes are increasingly important for assessing which human activities are the most prominent drivers of species declines. However, a quantitative understanding of the conservation responses needed to abate threatening processes, and avoid species extinctions, is often lacking. Here, we provide a threat abatement framework which groups threats based on the shared conservation goal of the actions needed to abate their impact. We apply this framework to Australia’s threatened species to quantify the relative importance of achieving different conservation response goals. Our analysis shows the most important conservation responses across Australia are habitat retention and restoration, due to the combined impact of threatening processes causing habitat destruction and degradation (e.g. logging, mining, urbanisation and agriculture), which affects the majority (86%) of Australia’s threatened species and the effective control of invasive species (82%). Most species also require conservation responses focussed on improved fire management (66%). We show that implementing responses in isolation will be inadequate for abating species extinctions as almost all species (89%) require multiple, integrated management responses to redress their threats. We also acknowledge that already small and potentially genetically compromised taxa may require more direct interventions (e.g. captive insurance populations or genetic rescue). Our analysis highlights the necessity of addressing multiple threats at appropriate geographic scales across Australia. Our threat abatement framework ensures that core conservation actions can be identified and aid recovery of threatened species, and can be applied to other geographic regions and conservation contexts.

Parts I and II of this 3-part series indicated how a global review of both English-language and non-English language papers plus a focus on a lipidosterolic extract of Serenoa repens (LSESr) having a standardized fatty acid profile have together engendered new insights about the biological activity of LSESr vs. LUTS. In this last of a 3-part series, data from the world literature is presented that confirms that LSESr efficacy is the predominant finding in clinical trials. Despite two placebo-controlled clinical trials performed in the U.S. that failed to confirm a benefit of LSESr vs. placebo in LUTS, the global body of the peer-reviewed literature attests not only to efficacy but also to safety. Results will be presented of important trials that compare LSESr to alpha-blockers such as tamsulosin (Flomax®) as well as to 5α-reductase inhibitors such as finasteride (Proscar®) that demonstrate consistent findings of near equivalency between LSESr and these pharmacologic agents. Studies relating data indicative of an additive effect or synergy between LSESr and tamsulosin will be presented as well. The heightened effectiveness of LSESr in men with severe LUTS vs. moderate LUTS expands the importance of our scrutinization of the global literature concerning LSESr. Of great consequence are the contributions of non-English language peer-reviewed publications that have consistently provided evidence of LSESr efficacy in treating LUTS/BPH. These peer-reviewed articles have shown that the effect of LSESr is not that of a placebo. Finally, a comparison of the LSESr extraction products used in the treatment of LUTS, and a discussion of the milieu factors that affect the natural history of LUTS and influence the outcome of clinical trials complete this sedulous analysis of LSESr vs. LUTS.

Given the extent of this global analysis, this report will be presented in three sections. Part I will introduce LUTS. What are the demographics of LUTS? What symptoms are assessed by LUTS and how do we quantify LUTS? Why would a non-prescription item be a valuable consideration in LUTS treatment versus other treatment options? What is basic information about Serenoa repens and what defines a standardized LSESr product? What are the published trials that have affected the acceptability of Serenoa repens in the treatment of LUTS? Finally, a major portion of Part I will discuss the four major reviews of Serenoa repens versus LUTS that have influenced how it is accepted in the USA, in Europe, and other parts of the world. Part I, therefore, lays the groundwork and is foundational for the important findings relating to LUTS and Serenoa repens that will be presented in Parts II and III.

Part I of this 3-part series provided the groundwork for understanding the role of a standardized lipidosterolic extract of Serenoa repens (LSESr) in the treatment of LUTS. It documented that a treatment having a high therapeutic index (i.e., a ratio of benefit to adverse reactions) is a critical need in the demographic context of a rapidly growing elder population. Part I described the clinical symptomatology of LUTS and how it is quantified. A critique of the reports from four authoritative bodies: the European Scientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy (ESCOP), Cochrane 2012, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and the AUA (American Urological Association) was presented. The foundation above then fine-tuned our search to require (a) consistent evaluability criteria, (b) the quantification of clinical findings, (c) the need to focus on studies employing a standardized LSESr product meeting the fatty acid profile set forth by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Pharmacopeia and (d) a global assessment of scientific investigations published in all languages and not limited to only English. Part II details the following “new” findings when LSESr vs. LUTS is examined with the above constraints.

Manufacturers of photovoltaic modules do not provide all the information necessary to predict their performance under different climatic conditions. This forces the development of mathematical models of behavior and the application of mathematical methods for the calculation of their associated parameters. A toolbox called PVMSim implemented in MATLAB/GUI is proposed in this paper. PVMSIm provides models allowing the simulation of photovoltaic modules. A two-diode model is used to represent the effect of irradiance and temperature on the V-I and V-P characteristic curves. The accuracy of PVMSim has been vaildated by applying the models to two mono-crystalline and multi-crystalline solar modules of different power ratings and manufacturers. The model PVMSim model accuracy was verified against the manufacturer’s datasheet. This paper shows that this tool is useful for designers and professionals who require an intuitive graphical interface for fast and accurate modeling, simulation and sizing of photovoltaic systems.

UN Convention on Climate Change 2015 mandates reducing carbon footprint to reduce global warming. Considering environmental concerns, Electric Vehicles (EVs) spearhead the move towards green mobility. Niti Aayog (Indian Government) has envisaged an “EV only” scenario by 2030. Two wheelers dominate the Indian automobile industry with almost 80% market share. With the transportation sector accounting for 70% of world’s fossil fuels use, the need for a sustainable supply chain which addresses environment, economy and societal issues, has, of late, aroused interest in the business academic community and industries. Sustainability in business decision-making promotes efficiency, controls expenditure, enhances customer delight, increases sales and market share, optimises risk management strategy, and promotes profitability. This study intends to develop a conceptual framework after examining research gaps in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) and allied topics like sustainability, green supply chain management, and vendor partnerships through collaborative efforts. Even the UN vide Goal 9 of sustainable goals pertaining to industry, highlights the importance of this framework.

Emerging information on the interactions between the COVID-19 pandemic and global food systems has highlighted how the pandemic is accentuating food crises across Africa. Less clear, however, are how the impacts differ between farming systems. Drawing on 50 key informant interviews with farmers, village leaders and extension officers, in South Africa and Tanzania, we identify the effects of COVID-19 and associated measures to curb the spread of the disease on farming production systems, the coping mechanisms adopted by farmers, and explore their longer-term plans for adaptation. We focus on a diverse range of production systems, from small-scale mixed farming systems in Tanzania, to large-scale corporate farms in South Africa. Our findings highlight how COVID-19 restrictions have interrupted the supply chains of agricultural inputs and commodities, increasing the storage time for produce, decreasing income and purchasing power, and reducing labour availability. Farmers’ responses were heterogeneous, with highly diverse small-scale farming systems and those less engaged with international markets least affected by the associated COVID-19 measures. Large-scale farmers were most able to access capital to buffer short-term impacts, whereas smaller-scale farms shared labour, diversified to subsistence produce and sold assets. However, compounded shocks, such as recent extreme climate events, limited the available coping options, particularly for smaller-scale and emerging farmers. The study highlights the need to understand the characteristics of farm systems to better equip and support farmers, particularly in contexts of uncertainty. We propose that policy actions should focus on (i) providing temporary relief and social support and protection to financially vulnerable stakeholders, (ii) job assurance for farmworkers, and engaging an alternative workforce in farming, (iii) investing in farming infrastructure, such as storage facilities, digital communication tools, and extension services, and iv) supporting diversified agroecological farming systems.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide, and despite advances in treatment, survival rates are still low; therefore, the development of novel drugs is imperative. Acetylcorynoline (ACN) is derived from Corydalis ambigua. The effect of ACN on colon cancer is still unknown. Therefore, we investigated its potential effects. Our data showed that ACN inhibited cell viability and proliferation. Moreover, ACN induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest by inhibiting cell growth. In the present study, we hypothesized that ACN regulates c-Myc through CNOT2 or MID1IP1. ACN reduced the protein expression of oncogenic genes, decreased c-Myc half-life, and rapidly inhibited the serum stimulation response. Moreover, knockdown of CNOT2 and MID1IP1 with ACN increased apoptosis and further reduced the expression of oncogenes. In addition, ACN exhibited a synergistic effect with low-dose of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and doxorubicin (Dox). Collectively, our data demonstrates that ACN inhibited c-Myc expression through CNOT2 and MID1IP1 and induced apoptosis. These findings indicate the potential of ACN as a therapeutic agent against colon cancer.

The World Health Organization(WHO) in 2016 considered mHealth as: “the use of mobile wireless technologies including smart devices such as smartphones and smartwatches for public health” as an important resource for health services delivery and public health given their ease of use, broad reach and acceptance. WHO emphasizes the potential of this technology to increase access to health information, services and skills as well as promoting positive changes in health behaviors and management of diseases. In this regard, the capability of smartphones and smartwatches for m-health monitoring as well as verification of the patient the signal has become an important component of mHealth system. Most of the smartwatches could extract more than one bioelectrical signal therefore, therefore they provide suitable platform for extracting health data for e-monitoring. The existing approaches have not considered the integrity of data obtained from these smart devices. Therefore, it is important that the integrity of the collected data be verified continuously through user authentication. This could be done using any of the bioelectrical signals extracted and transmitted for e-monitoring. In this article, a smartwatch is used for extracting bioelectrical signal before decomposing the signal into sub-bands of Detail and Approximation Coefficient for user authentication. To select suitable features using biorthogonal wavelet decomposition of signal from a non-intrusive extraction, a detailed experiment is conducted extracting suitable statistical features from the bioelectrical signal from 30 subjects using different biorthogonal wavelet family. Ten features are extracted using Biorthogonal wavelet to decompose the signal into three levels of sub-band Detail and Approximation Coefficient and features extracted from each level the decomposed Detail and Approximation Coefficients. Comparison analysis is done after the classification of the extracted features based on the Equal Error Rate (EER). Using Neural Network (NN) classifier, Biorthogonal Wavelet Detail Coefficient Sub-band level 3 of bior1.1 achieved the best result of EER 13.80% with the fusion of the best sub-band three levels of bior1.1 achieving a better result of 12.42% EER.

Extensive genome structure variation, such as copy number variations (CNVs) and presence/absence variations, is the basis for the remarkable maize genetic diversity; however, the effect of CNVs on maize herbivory defense remains largely underexplored. Here, we report that the naturally occurring duplication of the maize 9-lipoxygenase gene, ZmLOX5, leads to increased resistance of maize to herbivory by fall armyworms (FAW). Previously, we showed that ZmLOX5-derived oxylipins are required for defense against chewing insect herbivores and identified several inbred lines, including Yu796, that contained duplicated CNVs of ZmLOX5, referred to as Yu796-2×LOX5. To test whether introgression of the Yu796-2×LOX5 locus into the herbivore-susceptible B73 background that contains a single ZmLOX5 gene is a feasible approach to increase resistance, we generated a series of near-isogenic lines that contained either 2, 1 or 0 copies of the Yu796-2×LOX5 locus in the B73 background by six back crosses (BC6). Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) confirmed the successful introgression of the Yu796-2×LOX5 locus in B73. The resulting B73-2×LOX5 inbred line displayed increased resistance against FAW associated with increased expression of ZmLOX5, increased wound-induced production of its primary oxylipin product, the α-ketol, 9-hydroxy-10-oxo-12(Z),15(Z)-octadecadienoic acid (9,10-KODA), and the downstream defense hormones regulated by this molecule, 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (12-OPDA) and abscisic acid (ABA). Surprisingly, wound-induced JA-Ile production was not increased in B73-2×LOX5, resulting from the increased JA catabolism. Furthermore, B73-2×LOX5 displayed enhanced drought tolerance likely due to increased ABA and 12-OPDA content. Taken together, this study revealed that the duplicated CNV of ZmLOX5 quantitively contributes to maize antiherbivore defense and presents proof-of-concept evidence that the introgression of naturally occurring duplicated CNVs of a defensive gene into the productive, but susceptible, crop varieties is a feasible breeding approach for enhancing plant resistance to herbivory and tolerance to abiotic stress.

The development of biofortified and stress tolerant common bean lines contribute to counteract micronutrient malnutrition in the current condition of climate variability. Our objective was to evaluate the adaptive responses of biofortified common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) lines under acidic soils and high temperature stress conditions in the Amazon region of Colombia. Adaptive responses were evaluated based on phenological, physiological and agronomic differences under combined stress conditions. A total of 247 common bean lines from the Mesoamerican gene pool were evaluated under field conditions at Florencia, Caquetá, Colombia. The common bean lines evaluated included 146 from F4 families with high iron (Fe) content and 99 common bean lines from F5 families that were obtained from simple crosses, double crosses and backcrosses among different bean lines. Lines with tolerance to combined stress conditions of acidic soil and high temperature were found with grain yields greater than 1,400 kg ha-1 from the F5 (lines: 859, 805, 865, 657) and F4 (lines: 2853, 2796) families. This improved agronomic response is likely due to the greater partitioning of photosynthates from canopy biomass (CB) toward pod formation (pod partitioning index, PPI) and grain filling (pod harvest index, PHI; harvest index, HI), which translated into higher grain yields (GY). GY was correlated with CB (r = 0.36), PPI (r = 0.6), PHI (r = 0.68), and HI (r = 0.8, P<0.001). The physiological responses that contributed toward superior agronomic performance of biofortified common bean lines include greater allocation of energy to the photosynthetic machinery (ΦII) and its dissipation in the form of heat (ΦNPQ) as the leaf temperature differential (LTD) increased under combined stress conditions. Six biofortified common bean lines (F5 lines: 859, 805, 865, 657; F4 lines: 2853, 2796) were identified with multiple stress resistance traits and these lines can serve as parents for further genetic improvement of common bean for multiple stress tolerance in the Amazon region of Colombia.

Chronic wounds are associated with considerable patient morbidity and present a significant economic burden to the healthcare system. Often, chronic wounds are in a state of persistent in-flammation and unable to progress to the next phase of wound healing. Placental-derived bio-materials are recognized for their biocompatibility, biodegradability, angiogenic, an-ti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-fibrotic, immunomodulatory, and immune privileged prop-erties. As such, placental-derived biomaterials have been used in wound management for more than a century. Placental-derived scaffolds are composed of an extracellular matrix (ECM) that can mimic the native tissue, creating a reparative environment to promote ECM remodeling, cell migration, proliferation, and differentiation. Reliable evidence exists throughout the literature to support the safety and effectiveness of placental-derived biomaterials in wound healing. How-ever, differences in source (i.e., anatomical regions of the placenta), preservation techniques, decellularization status, design, and clinical application have not been fully evaluated. This re-view provides an overview of wound healing and placental-derived biomaterials, summarizes the clinical results of placental-derived scaffolds in wound healing, and suggests directions for future work.

Let R be a commutative ring with identity and m, n be positive integers. In this paper, we introduce the class of (m,n)-prime ideals which lies properly between the classes of prime and (m,n)-closed ideals. A proper ideal I of R is called (m,n)-prime if for a,b∈R, a^{m}b∈I implies either aⁿ∈I or b∈I. Several characterizations of this new class with many examples are given. Analougus to primary decomposition, we define the (m,n)-decomposition of ideals and show that every ideal in an n-Noetherian ring has an (m,n)-decomposition. Furthermore, the (m,n)-prime avoidance theorem is proved.

We report on metastable defects introduced in n-type 4H-SiC material by epithermal and fast neutron irradiation. The epithermal and fast neutron irradiation defects in 4H-SiC are much less explored compared to electron or proton irradiation induced defects. In addition to silicon vacancy (Vsi) and carbon antisite-carbon vacancy (CAV) complex, the neutron irradiation has introduced four deep level defects, all arising from the metastable defect, the M-center. The metastable deep level defects were investigated by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), high-resolution Laplace DLTS (L-DLTS) and isothermal DLTS. The existence of the fourth deep level M4, recently observed in ion implanted 4H-SiC, has been additionally confirmed in neutron irradiated samples. The isothermal DLTS technique has been proven as a useful tool for studying the metastable defects.

The current work reports the upper bound of the state variable of the of the Pointwise Steady Fluid Flow Approximation (PSFFA) model of non-stationary M/Ek/1 queueing system.

Salinity can negatively impact crop growth and yield. Changes in DNA methylation are known to occur when plants are challenged by stress and have been associated with the regulation of stress-response genes. However, the role of DNA-methylation in moderating gene expression in response to salt stress has been relatively poorly studied among crops such as barley. Here, we assessed the extent of salt-induced alterations of DNA methylation in barley and their putative role in perturbed gene expression. Using Next Generation Sequencing, we screened the leaf and root methylomes of five divergent barley varieties grown under control and three salt concentrations, to seek genotype independent salt-induced changes in DNA methylation. Salt stress caused increased methylation in leaves but diminished methylation in roots with a higher number of changes in leaves than in roots, indicating that salt induced changes to global methylation are organ specific. Differentially Methylated Markers (DMMs) were mostly located in close proximity to repeat elements, but also in 1094 genes, of which many possessed gene ontology (GO) terms associated with plant responses to stress. Identified markers have potential value as sentinels of salt stress and provide a starting point to allow understanding of the functional role of DNA methylation in facilitating barley’s response to this stressor.

A series of (benzoimidazol-2-ylmethyl)amine palladium(II) complexes have been employed as catalysts in the homogenous hydrogenation of alkenes and alkynes under mild conditions. A correlation between the catalytic activity and the nature of the ligand was established. Kinetic studies of the hydrogenation reactions of styrene established pseudo-first-order dependence on styrene substrate. On the other hand, partial orders with respect to H2 and catalyst concentrations were obtained consistent with the formation of palladium(II) monohydride species as the active species. The nature of the solvent used influenced the hydrogenation reactions, where coordinating solvents resulted in lower catalytic activities. Density functional theory investigations provided valuable insights into the reactivity trends and influence of complex structure on the hydrogenation reactions.

AbstractLocal estimates of coastal flood risk are required for coastal planning and development, including the location and design of sea-defences and coastal buildings, such as harbours and associated infrastructure. This paper discusses the use of three parameters associated with estimating such risks; the flood return period, the instantaneous flood probability and the flood design risk, and it describes the mathematical background for their derivation. The discussion is extended to include the effects of sea level rise and how it can be incorporated into the calculations. Flood height can vary quite rapidly with distance along the coast, being affected by coastal topology, which may magnify or diminish the tidal and surge effects. Similarly land heave influences the local effects of sea level rise and can be influenced by water extraction, tectonic movements and melting ice. Tide gauge measurements provide a local historical record from which the various parameters can be retrieved. This paper discusses the algorithms used to derive these measures from tide-gauge records. The figures have been derived for four tide gauges located on the UK east coast.

Detecting cracks in teeth is a clinical challenge. Patients may complain of diffuse pain on chewing, pain, at times, on temperature change and pain that occurs episodically. Common diagnostic tools such as radiographs and visual examination may not detect cracks. This case report shows how PTR-LUM in The Canary System can detect cracks in teeth not seen with other devices. In this clinical situation, the crack involved a portion of the mesial and distal surfaces of a mandibular second molar.

The objective was to conduct a scoping review and produce a publicly available database characterizing the design and reporting elements of the literature on dietary added sugars and select health outcomes. Relevant studies published from 1990 – 2021 were identified to create a database containing information on study and population characteristics, reported added sugars source and concentrations, diet energy balance, total energy intake, and outcome measures related to body composition, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus. There were 245 publications identified, 22% of which describe interventions and 78% describe observational studies. Publications pertaining to added sugars have risen dramatically since 2010, led by studies primarily assessing body composition (36%) or cardiovascular health (32%), including adults (65%), measuring liquid-only sources of added sugars (56%). Over 65% of studies reported total energy intake, 61% controlled for total energy intake in the design and analysis, and fewer than 5% of studies reported the energy balance of subjects. There has been a significant increase in research on added sugars since 2010, with substantial heterogeneity across all facets of methodology – study designs, exposures and outcomes of interest, terminology, and reporting of dietary intake data – thus limiting the ability to synthesize evidence in this scope of literature. This evidence map highlights gaps and important areas for improvement to strengthen the state of research to better inform future policies and dietary recommendations on added sugars.

In the past decades, the world is actively working towards the global goal of net-zero emission. To decrease emissions, there is a notable trend of electrification in transportation, which is a transition from traditional fuel-based systems to electrical power systems onboard different transportation platforms. For this transition, it is important to study the electrical structure, specifically the onboard microgrid, powered by various energy sources. In this paper, traditional energy management strategies for onboard microgrid systems are discussed, which usually require complicated optimization algorithms and high computation capabilities. Driven by the recent advancements in information technologies, artificial intelligence and digital twin have gained much interest within the transportation sector. These technologies can effectively utilize data to achieve intelligent decision-making, optimize resource utilization, and save energy consumption. This paper presents an overview of the usage of these emerging information technologies in energy management strategies, providing an overall summary and classification of the practical applications. In addition, after examining the potential challenges associated with artificial intelligence and digital twin, this paper also discusses future trends in this field.

What is the ideal soil-grass combination for maximum photosynthesis? In this study, we investigated how soil and grassland types affect photosynthesis in the grasslands of Gannan, China. We divided the grasslands of Gannan into 166 study sites, each with a unique soil-grass combination by intersecting the soil and ecoregion maps using ArcGIS. We obtained 19 years of data on the Net Photosynthesis (PsnNet) of grasslands in the area from 2000 to 2018 and then divided them into “growing season” (June to September) and “non-growing season” (October top May). Between 2000 and 2018, PsnNet of grasslands showed a gradually increasing trend. The effect of soil type on PsnNet was not significant during the growing season. However, it was highly significant during the non-growing season. Among the soil types, grasses that grew in Mollic, Gelic, and Haplic soils had the highest rate of photosynthesis. The difference in PsnNet among the various grass types was highly significant during both seasons. However, Tropical and Subtropical succulent evergreen broad-leaf shrubs and Temperate meadows had the highest rate of photosynthesis. Additionally, there was a highly significant difference in PsnNet among the various soil-grass interactions. In the growing season, TStEgBLS growing Eutric soils had the highest PsnNet. However, SaDBLS growing in Gelic soils had the the highest.

Asphaltene precipitation and deposition pose significant operational challenges in both reservoirs and surface facilities by inducing formation damage. To understand the kinetics involved in asphaltene particle nucleation, growth, and aggregation, this study employed confocal microscopy and centrifuge-based methods under a unified set of experimental parameters. The acquired time-resolved particle size images were analyzed using MIPAR image processing software, while asphaltene mass yield was quantitatively evaluated through centrifugation. Experimental conditions were varied to study the effects of heptane concentration, asphaltene concentration, and shear rate. Notably, this investigation introduces, for the first time, the parameter of particle count as an additional variable influencing asphaltene mass production. This study aims to discern how particle count correlates with asphaltene mass yield over time. Results indicate that the minimum mean particle diameter was observed to be 2 microns, which progressively grew up to 80 microns. The mean particle diameter exhibited a positive correlation with both asphaltene concentration and shear rate, whereas an inverse correlation was seen with heptane concentration. Furthermore, the asphaltene mass yield was found to increase with greater asphaltene and heptane concentrations, as well as with higher shear rates. The relationship between mean particle diameter and mass yield was found to be nonlinear. In the early stages, a higher prevalence of small particles contributed to a greater total particle count, while at later stages, particle aggregation led to the formation of larger particles that influenced the overall asphaltene mass. The insights gained from understanding the relationship between particle diameter, count, and mass yield are crucial for advancing the fundamental science of asphaltene precipitation and deposition. These findings may also guide future research that relies solely on particle counts for assessing asphaltene deposition.

Soil-borne Trichoderma spp. have been extensively studied for their biocontrol activities against pathogens and growth promotion ability with plants. However, the beneficial effect of Trichoderma on inducing resistance against insect herbivores has been considered only recently. Among diverse Trichoderma species, consistent with previous reports, we showed that root colonization by T. virens triggered induced systemic resistance (ISR) to leaf-infecting fungal pathogens. Whether T. virens induces ISR to insect pests has not been tested before. In this study, we investigated whether T. virens affects jasmonic acid (JA) biosynthesis and defense against fall armyworm (FAW) and western corn rootworm (WCR). Unexpectedly, the results showed that T. virens colonization of maize seedlings grown in autoclaved soil suppressed wound-induced production of JA, resulting in reduced resistance to FAW. Similarly, the bacterial endophyte Pseudomonas chlororaphis 30-84 suppressed systemic resistance to FAW due to reduced JA. Further comparative analyses of the systemic effects of these endophytes when applied into sterile or non-sterile field soil showed that both T. virens and P. chlororaphis 30-84 triggered ISR against hemibiotrophic fungal pathogen Colletotrichum graminicola in both soil conditions, but only suppressed resistance to FAW in sterile soil. In contrast to the effect on FAW defense, T. virens colonization of maize roots suppressed WCR larvae survival and weight gain. This is the first report suggesting the potential role of T. virens as a biocontrol agent against WCR.

The species composition of vultures and their interactions on carcasses of various stages of decomposition is not well understood yet it potentially affects their food acquisition and survival. We collected data from six carcasses between June and December 2021 using camera traps that were set on carcasses undergoing various decomposition states in Sinamatella Camp of Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Of interest were the cases in which each vulture species was dominating in interactions which gave it an advantage in terms of food acquisition. Four vulture species were observed (White-backed, White-headed, Lappet-faced and Hooded Vultures). Vulture abundances were greatest on fresh carcasses and least on dry ones. Although dominance behaviors by the White-backed and White-headed Vultures were recorded over all other vulture species, there were no records of the Lappet-faced dominating other vultures. In addition, the Hooded Vultures were mostly dominating non-vulture avian species on advanced decay carcasses. Our results demonstrate how various species may be prone to intense competition that may further place them at disadvantageous positions if food sources decline, more so under climatic shifts and various anthropogenic pressures.

Pulmonary infections with Mycobacterium avium occur in susceptible individuals following exposure to the bacterium in the environment, where it often persists in biofilms. Many methods have been used to generate biofilms of M. avium, and it is unknown whether different approaches generate similar structures and cell phenotypes. To make a parallel comparison of in vitro biofilm ultrastructure, extracellular matrix (ECM) composition, and drug susceptibility of biofilm resident bacteria, we used two published methods to generate M. avium biofilms: four week incubation in M63 medium or 24 hour exposure to dithiothreitol (DTT). Scanning electron microscopy revealed differences in biofilm ultrastructure between the two methods, including variation in appearance of ECM materials and morphology of resident cells, while light microscopy and staining with calcofluor white indicated that both biofilms contained polysaccharides characteristic of cellulose. Measuring susceptibility of biofilms to degradation by enzymes suggested differences in structurally important ECM molecules, with DTT biofilms having important protein and, to a lesser extent, cellulose components, and M63 biofilms having moderate protein, cellulose, and DNA components. Both biofilms conferred resistance to the bactericidal effects of amikacin and clarithromycin, with resident cells being killed at >10-fold lower rates than planktonic cells at almost all concentrations. Though these comparisons indicate differences in biofilm responses by M. avium under differing conditions, they also suggest common features of biofilm formation including cellulose production and antimicrobial resistance.

The topological index is a numerical quantity based on the characteristics of various invariants or molecular graph. For ease of discussion, these indices are classified according to their logical derivation from topological invariants rather than their temporal development. Degree based topological indices depends upon the degree of vertices. This paper computes degree based topological indices of Bismuth Tri-Iodide chains and sheets with the help of M-polynomial.

A novel means of applying radiotherapy in cancer treatment is the application of the radiation dose at a very high intensity for a very short time, FLASH radiotherapy (FLASH-RT). This technique involves exposure of tumors to >40 Gy/s, usually for less than one second. Studies conducted in cell and preclinical models suggest that FLASH-RT seems less damaging to normal tissues from adverse effects, relative to the same overall dose of radiation administered in conventional therapy (CONV-RT) which involves administration of lower levels of radiation repeated intermittently over a protracted period. In contrast, the susceptibility of tumor tissues to FLASH-RT is not diminished relative to CONV-RT. Within solid tumors both modes of dispensation of radiation produce an equivalent degree of cell damage. This differential between normal and malignant material has been found in isolated tissues, animal studies, and more recently in clinical trials. However, the classical radiation concept is that high energy linear transfer radiation (LET) is more damaging than the equivalent total dose of low LET. Thus, the susceptibility of cells should be greater to short-term exposure to high LET. This article discusses the potential reasons that may account for this discrepancy. While the relative protection given to untransformed tissues by FLASH-RT relative to tumor tissue is a major step forward in radiation therapy of cancer, the processes that lie behind this phenomenon are incompletely understood and are considered here.

Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to simulate five glacierized river basins that are global in coverage and vary in climate. The river basins included the Narayani (Nepal), Vakhsh (Central Asia), Rhone (Switzerland), Mendoza (Central Andes, Argentina), and Central Dry Andes (Chile) with a total area of 85,000 km2. A modified SWAT snow algorithm was applied in order to consider spatial variation of associated snow melt /accumulation by elevation band across each subbasin. In the previous studies, melt rates varied as a function of elevation resulting from an air temperature gradient while the snow parameters were constant throughout the entire basin. A major improvement of the new snow algorithm is separating the glaciers from seasonal snow based on their characteristics. Two SWAT snow algorithms were evaluated in simulation of monthly runoff from glaciered watershed: 1) the snow parameters are lumped (i.e. constant throughout the entire basin) and 2) the snow parameters are spatially variable based on elevation band-subbasin (i.e. modified snow algorithm). Applying the distributed SWAT snow algorithm improved the model performance in simulation of monthly runoff with snow-glacial regime, so that mean RSR decreased to 0.49 from 0.55 and NSE increased to 0.75 from 0.69. Improvement of model performance was negligible in simulation of monthly runoff from the basins with monsoon runoff regime.

Perovskite Solar Cell (PSC) is a third-generation photovoltaic device known for its rapid improvement in efficiency levels over the past decade. Moreover, the added benefits of abundant sourcing of raw materials, uncomplicated fabrication process, organic and inorganic device materials, and tuneable bandgaps make this technology a sustainable energy alternative. However, the efficiency values of these devices are subjected to variation depending on factors such as material compatibility, environmental conditions, energy band alignment of device components and stability characteristics to extrinsic and intrinsic factors. One such vital intrinsic factor is film morphology, homogenous and superior film quality formation and pinhole and trap-free films. In this study, we have investigated the formation of perovskite films on a qualitative basis using metal chloride washing of salts such as Erbium, Antimony, Cadmium and Chromium Chloride. The study aims to analyse the difference in film formation with various metal chloride washing and how this could potentially impact or contribute to photovoltaic performance if the devices are fabricated.

In developing countries today, population growth and the penetration of higher standard of living appliances in homes has resulted in a rapidly increasing residential load. In South Africa, the recent rolling blackouts and electricity price increase only highlighted this reality calling for sustainable measures to reduce the overall consumption and peak load. The dawn of the smart grid concept, embedded systems and ICTs have paved the way to novel HEMS design. In this regard, the Internet of Things (IoT), an enabler for smart and efficient energy management systems is seeing increasing attention for optimizing HEMS design and mitigate its deployment cost constraints. In this work, we propose an IoT platform for residential energy management applications focusing on interoperability, low-cost, technology availability and scalability. We focus on the backend complexities of IoT Home Area Networks (HAN) using the OCF IoTivity-Lite middleware. To augment the quality, servicing and reduce cost and complexities, this work leverages open-source Cloud technologies from Back4App as BaaS to provide consumer and Utilities with a data communication platform within an experimental study illustrating time and space agnostic “mind-changing” energy feedback, Demand Response Management (DRM) and appliance operation control via a HEM App via an Android smartphone.

Temperature and pH can expedite the ability of pathogens to cause diseases in cold-water corals (CWCs). The present study employed a combination of histology and polymerase chain reaction diagnostic techniques to investigate potential pathogens present in the CWCs Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata in the Porcupine Bank Canyon (PBC), NE Atlantic. No pathogen was observed in the Madrepora samples. Neither histology nor standard PCR detected Vibrio spp. in the corals, although using Illumina technology, V. shilonii was observed in some L. pertusa samples in low abundances (0.22%). A Rickettsiales-like organisms (RLOs) occurred at a prevalence of 8.0% and at a low infection intensity of 1 - 4. Lophelia showed a few RLOs infection from the PBC canyon head (2.7%) and high infections in the south branch (5.3%). Similarly, unidentified cells observed in L. pertusa from the south branch (4.0%) were more common than those found in the canyon head (1.3%) with a prevalence of 5.3%. Although the route of pathogen infection is unclear, a likely mode of entry could be associated with particulate availability and the feeding strategies of the scleractinian corals. This suggest that L. pertusa invests energy into an enhanced immune function and reduced susceptibility to global pathogens despite a changing ocean environment.

This review describes how resonance in amides is greatly affected upon substitution at nitrogen by two electronegative atoms. Nitrogen becomes strongly pyramidal and resonance stabilisation, evaluated computationally, can be reduced to as little as 50% that of N,N-dimethylacetamide. However, this occurs without significant twisting about the amide bond, which is borne out both experimentally and theoretically. In certain configurations, reduced resonance and pronounced anomeric effects between heteroatom substituents are instrumental in driving the HERON (Heteroatom Rearrangement On Nitrogen)^† reaction, in which the more electronegative atom migrates from nitrogen to the carbonyl carbon in concert with heterolysis of the amide bond, to generate acyl derivatives and heteroatom-substituted nitrenes. In other cases the anomeric effect facilitates S­_N1 and S_N2 reactivity at the amide nitrogen.

Broflanilide is a novel active ingredient from a unique insecticide class (IRAC Group 30) and was investigated as a control option against modern insecticide resistant strains of the common bed bug, Cimex lectularius. The susceptibility of technical grade broflanilide and efficacy of a broflanilide-based aerosol formulation (Earth Corp., Japan) were evaluated against five C. lectularius strains (MONH, SYD, DARL, PARRA, RIPPO). Results demonstrated that bed bugs had high susceptibility to broflanilide (RR50: SYD=1.22-fold, DARL=1.03-fold, PARRA=3.65-fold, RIPPO=2.77-fold), compared to the susceptible MONH strain. The aerosol showed high efficacy to adult bed bugs (97.5–100 % mortality to five strains after 24 hrs post-spray) and produced a notable decrease in egg hatch rates (MONH=9.7–23.4 %, PARRA=14.9–22.6 %). The aerosol also demonstrated high residual activity with 97.5–100% mortality in all five bed bug strains within 7 days exposure. The impact of different surface types upon aerosol residual efficacy was limited, although residues on a non-porous surface (tile) killed bed bugs slightly quicker than that on a porous surface (filter paper). The aerosol provided long residual activity to bed bugs, as 6-month-old residues were as equally efficacious to that of fresh residues. Bed bugs did not avoid surfaces treated with the aerosol. The high efficacy (including ovicidal efficacy), long residual activity, and non-avoidance of bed bugs on treated surfaces, demonstrated that broflanilide is highly suitable for modern bed bug management.

This review examines the categorization of Essentially Derived Varieties (EDV) introduced in the 1991 revision of the Convention of the Union internationale pour la protection des obtentions végétales (UPOV). Challenges in the implementation of the concept and progress made on a crop-by-crop basis to provide greater clarity and more efficient implementation are reviewed. The current approach to EDV remains valid provided i) clarity on thresholds can be achieved including through resource intensive research on an individual crop species basis and ii) that threshold clarity does not lead to perverse incentives to avoid detection of essential derivation. However, technological advances leading to new varieties resulting from the simultaneous introduction or change in expression of more than “a few” genes will so challenge the concept to require a new Convention. Revision could include deletion of the concept of essential derivation and revision on a crop-by-crop basis of the breeder exception. Countries that allow utility patents for individual plant varieties per se should consider removing that possibility unless plant breeders utilize those encouragements for risk taking and investment to broaden the germplasm base upon which the long-term sustainability of plant breeding resides.

Systemic inflammation plays a central role in many diseases and is, therefore, an important therapeutic target. In a scoping review, we assessed the evidence base for anti-inflammatory effects of pre-, pro- and synbiotics in children. Of 1254 clinical trials published in English in Ovid Medline and Cochrane Library PubMed from January 2003 through September 2022, 29 were included in the review. In 6 studies of healthy children (n=1552), one reported that fructo-oligosaccharides added to infant formula significantly reduced pro-inflammatory biomarkers and one study of a single strain probiotic reported both anti- and pro-inflammatory effects. No effects were seen in the remaining two single-strain and one multi-strain probiotic and one synbiotic study. In 23 studies of children with diseases (n=1550), prebiotics were tested in 3, single-strain in 16 and multi-strain probiotics in 6 and synbiotics in 2 studies. Significantly reduced inflammatory biomarkers were reported in 7/10 studies of atopic/allergic conditions, 3/5 studies of auto-immune diseases, 1/2 studies of preterm infants, 1 study of overweight/obesity, 2/2 studies of severe illness and 2/3 studies of other diseases. However, often only one or two of several biomarkers were improved, increased pro-inflammatory biomarkers occurred in 5 of these studies and a probiotic increased inflammatory biomarkers in a study of newborns with congenital heart disease. The evidence base for the effects of pre-, pro- and synbiotics on systemic inflammation in children is weak. Further research is needed to determine if anti-inflammatory effects depend on the specific pre-, pro- and synbiotic preparations, health status and biomarkers studied.

The scope of this study was twofold: first, to introduce a new method in examining measurement invariance, especially with large-scale studies where a large number of group comparisons are involved: the alignment approach, where only configural invariance is necessary to achieve measurement invariance. Second, to evaluate the psychometric robustness of this approach using real-life data. Particularly, we applied this approach to examine whether the factor structure of a cognitive ability test (PGAT) exhibits measurement invariance across the 26 universities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The sample consisted of 9,849 graduate students from 26 universities around the Kingdom. The results indicated a robust configural model suggesting that the P-GAT subscales were invariant across the 26 universities. Finally, the aligned factor mean values were estimated, and factor mean comparisons of every group’s mean with all other group means were conducted for both cognitive domains (Verbal and Quantitative). In both domains, King Saud University had the highest mean score among all universities. Moreover, its mean factor score was significantly higher than any other university besides Dammam University. On the other hand, several universities allocated at the northern and Southern borders of the country exhibited the lowest factor mean scores.

The seismic damage in reinforced concrete bridges is identified in this study using the "M and P" hybrid technique initially developed for planar frames. The proposed methodology involves a series of pushover and instantaneous modal analyses with a progressively increasing target deck displacement along the longitudinal direction of the bridge. From the results of these analyses, the diagram of the instantaneous eigenfrequency of the bridge, ranging from the health state to near collapse, is plotted against the inelastic seismic deck displacement. By pre-determining the eigen-frequency of an existing bridge along its longitudinal direction through "monitoring and frequency identification", the target deck displacement corresponding to the damage state can directly be found from this diagram. Subsequently, the damage can be identified by examining the results of the pushover analysis at the step where the target deck displacement is indicated. The effectiveness of this proposed technique is evaluated in the context of multiple span bridges with unequal pier heights, illustrated through an example of a four-span bridge. The findings demonstrate that the damage potential in bridge piers can be successfully identified by combining the results of a monitoring process and pushover analysis.

Generating long-lived mucosal and systemic antibodies through respiratory immunization with protective antigens encapsulated in nanoscale biodegradable particles could potentially decrease or eliminate the incidence of many infectious diseases but requires incorporation of a suitable mucosal immunostimulant. We previously found that respiratory immunization with a model protein antigen (LPS-free OVA) encapsulated in PLGA 50:50 nanoparticles (~380 nm diameter) surface modified with complement peptide-derived immunostimulant 02 (CPDI-02; formerly EP67) through 2kDa PEG linkers increases mucosal and systemic OVA-specific memory T-cells with long-lived surface phenotypes in young, naïve female C57BL/6 mice. Here, we determined if respiratory immunization with LPS-free OVA encapsulated in similar PLGA 50:50 microparticles (~1 μm diameter) surface modified with CPDI-02 (CPDI-02-MP) increases long-term OVA-specific mucosal and systemic antibodies. We found that, compared to MP surface modified with inactive, scrambled scCPDI-02 (scCPDI-02-MP), intranasal administration of CPDI-02-MP in 50 μL sterile PBS greatly increased titers of short-term (14 days post-immunization) and long-term (90 days post-immunization) antibodies against encapsulated LPS-free OVA in nasal lavage fluids, bronchoalveolar lavage fluids, and sera of young, naïve female C57BL/6 mice. Thus, surface modification of biodegradable microparticles with CPDI-02 is likely to increase long-term mucosal and systemic antibodies against encapsulated protein antigen after respiratory and possibly other routes of mucosal immunization.

Multi-morbidity and polypharmacy are common in older people and pose a challenge for health and social care systems especially in context of global population ageing. They are complex and interrelated concepts in the care of older people that require early detection and patient centred decision making that are underpinned by the principles of multidisciplinary led comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA). Personalised care plans need to remain responsive and adaptable to the needs of a patient, enabling an individual to maintain their independence.

Let R be a commutative ring and m, n be positive integers. We define a proper submodule N of an R-module M to be (m,n)-closed if for r∈R and b∈M, r^{m}b∈N implies rⁿ∈(N:_{R}M) or b∈N. This class of submodules lies properly between the classes of prime and primary submodules. Many characterizations, properties and supporting examples concerning this class of submodules are provided. The notion of (m,n)-modules is introduced and characterized. Furhermore, the (m,n)-closed avoidance theorem is proved. Finally, the (m,n)-closed submodules in amalgamated modules are studied.

It has been more than a century since Erlang published his paper in 1909. The classical queueing system for the M/D/c queue has been investigated by many authors. The key is to find the roots of an equation using explicit or numerical methods. We present an alternate form of explicit solution(s) of this/these root(s) using the Lambert-W function in this paper. In addition, the unsaturated probabilities of the number of customers in the system is derived explicitly in terms of this/these root(s). Finally, the mean number of customers in the system and the mean queueing delay are obtained from these probabilities. The exact queueing delay formula for the M/D/c queue is expressed in closed-form in terms of the root(s). Numerical results show that they are in excellent agreement with the numerical results published by Seelen, Tijms and Van Hoorn.

Acid proteins capable of nucleating Ca2+ and displaying aggregation capacity play key roles in the formation of calcium carbonate biominerals. EF-hands are among the largest Ca2+-binding motif in proteins. Gad m 1, an Atlantic cod β-parvalbumin isoform, is a monomeric EF-hand protein that acts as a Ca2+ buffer in fish muscle and is able to form amyloids under acidic conditions. Since nucleating Ca2+ protein have a propensity to form extended β-strand structures, we wondered whether amyloid assemblies of a protein containing refolded EF-hand motifs were able to influence the in vitro calcium carbonate crystallization. Here we have used the Gad m 1 chain as model to generate monomeric and amyloid assemblies and analyze their effect on in vitro calcite formation. We found that only amyloid assemblies alter calcite morphology.

The current study characterizes the transient M/M/1 queue manifold info-geometrically, through devising Fisher Information matrix(FIM) and its inverse(IFIM). Additionally, the impact of stability on the existence of IFIM and explore the geodesic equations of motion has been revealed. More potentially, the paper discusses some info-geometric applications to Machine Learning are highlighted. Closing remarks with some challenging open problems combined with the next phase of research are given.

Cotton is the most ubiquitous and profitable fiber with diverse industrial and domestic applications. Grown in over 100 countries, it has a global market value of about $40 billion and employs over 350 million people from fields to textile mills, contributing about 7% of total labor-force recruitment in developing economies. Cotton has an indeterminate growth habit and an extensive tap root system affected by soil physicochemical and environmental conditions. There is a consensus among experts that conventional cotton cultivation still has a long way to attain sustainability, which is essential if cotton will maintain its competitive edge over other natural and synthetic fibers like hemp, polyesters, and rayon. Despite several efforts already committed to growing cotton sustainably, sustainability has eluded cotton cultivation globally because of the intense farm inputs (freshwater, pesticides, and heavy-duty equipment) needs, especially in developing economies. Some of the technological advancements towards achieving the goal of sustainable cotton cultivation include the development of new varieties, improved irrigation and mulching and precision agriculture techniques, application of remote sensing and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) combined with image processing, and the introduction of autonomous and multi-purpose robotic platforms for growing and harvesting cotton. This review attempts to evaluate the successes already achieved by stakeholders in moving cotton towards sustainable production and identify areas where efforts are still needed to reach sustainable production and improved profitability goals for cotton with projections for future research directions.

We summarize structural instabilities exhibited by the one dimensional (1D) (arene)2X family of organic conductors in relation with their electronic and magnetic properties. With a charge transfer of one electron to each anion X these salts exhibit a quarter-filled (hole) conduction band located on the donor stacks. Compounds built with donors such as fluorenthene and perylene derivatives and anions X such PF6 or AsF6 exhibit a high temperature (TP~170K) conventional Peierls transition which is announced by a sizeable regime of 1D 2kF charge density wave fluctuations (kF is the Fermi wave vector of the 1D electron gas located on Per stacks). Surprisingly, and probably because of the presence of a multi-sheet warped Fermi surface, the Peierls transition is considerably reduced in the perylene series α-(Per)2[M(mnt)2] where X is the dithiolate molecule with M=Au, Cu, Co and Fe. A special attention is devoted in this paper to physical properties of α-(Per)2[M(mnt)2] salts which with M=Pt, Pd and Ni incorporate segregated S=1/2 1D antiferromagnetic (AF) dithiolate stacks with 1D metallic Per stacks. We analyse conjointly the structural and magnetic properties of these salts in relation with the 1D spin-Peierls (SP) instability located on the dithiolate stacks. We show that the SP instability of the Pd and Ni derivatives occurs in the classical (adiabatic limit) while the SP instability of the Pt derivative occurs in the quantum (anti-adiabatic limit). Furthermore we show that in the Pd and Ni derivatives frustrated 1st neighbour direct and 2nd neighbour indirect (through a fine tuning with the mediated 2kF RKKY coupling interaction on Per stacks) AF interactions add their contribution to the SP instability to open a singlet-triplet gap. Our analysis of the data show unambiguously that magnetic α-(Per)2[M(mnt)2] salts are a typical realization of the physics predicted for two chain 1D Kondo lattices.

We present a modified version of the Szilard Engine, demonstrating that an explicit measurement procedure is entirely unnecessary for its operation. By considering our modified engine, we are able to provide a new interpretation of Landauer’s original argument for the cost of erasure. From this view, we demonstrate that a reset operation is strictly impossible in a dynamical system with only conservative forces. Then, we prove that to approach a reset yields an unavoidable instability at the reset point. Finally, we present an original proof of Landauer’s principle that is completely independent from the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Clarifying the impact mechanism of digital transformation of enterprises on the M&A efficiency of listed companies can provide a factual basis for improving capital market regulatory policies. Taking the mergers and acquisitions of listed companies from 2007 to 2021 as a research sample, the influence mechanism of the digital transformation degree of companies on their M&A efficiency was studied. The research results show that the digital transformation of listed companies will improve their M&A efficiency. Digital transformation will reduce the degree of mispricing of stocks of M&A companies, curb conflicts between managers and agents of M&A companies, and improve their M&A efficiency. Further research finds that the promotion effect of digital transformation on M&A efficiency is more significant in non-state-owned companies, with a higher degree of financing constraint and high analyst attention. In the future, regulatory authorities should actively promote the digital transformation of listed companies, curb mispricing and management agency problems in the capital market with digital governance, and improve the efficiency of mergers and acquisitions in the capital market.

Purpose. Moraxella is an ocular bacterial pathogen isolated in cases of keratitis, conjunctivitis, and endophthalmitis. Gram-negative brick-shaped diplobacilli from ocular specimens, and slow growth in culture, are early indications of Moraxella ocular infection; however, identifying Moraxella to species can be complex and inconsistent. Methods. In this study, bacteria consistent with Moraxella were identified to species using: 1) DNA sequencing coupled with vancomycin susceptibility, 2) MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry, and 3) Biolog ID System. Study samples consisted of 9 ATCC Moraxella controls, 82 isolates from keratitis, 21 isolates from conjunctivitis, and 4 isolates from endophthalmitis. Results. The ATCC controls were correctly identified. For keratitis, 66 (80.5%) were identified as M. nonliquefaciens, 7 (9.0%) as M. lacunata, 5 (6%) as M. osloensis, 2 (2.5%) as Acinetobacter lwoffi, 1 (1.0%) as M. bovis/nonliquefaciens, and 1 (1.0%) as M. osloensis/nonliquefaciens. For conjunctivitis, 9 (43.0%) were identified as M. osloensis, 6 (29.0%) as M. nonliquefaciens, 3 (14.3%) as Roseomonas, 2 (9.5%) as Acinetobacter (parvus, junii), and 1 (4.5%) as M. catarrhalis/M. nonliquefaciens. From endophthalmitis, 3 of 4 of the isolates were M. nonliquefaciens. Overall, M. nonliquefaciens and M. osloensis were identified in 70% (75 of 107) and 13% (14 of 107) of cases, respectively, totaling 83% (89 of 107). Conclusions. M. nonliquefaciens and M. osloensis are important bacterial pathogens of the eye as determined by DNA sequencing, MALDI-TOF MS, and Biolog. Although Moraxella catarrhalis is a clinical pathogen, other species of Moraxella appear to have a prominent role in eye infections.

Graph theory plays a crucial role in modeling and designing of chemical structure or chemical network. Chemical Graph theory helps to understand the molecular structure of molecular graph. The molecular graph consists of atoms as vertices and bonds as edges. Topological indices capture symmetry of molecular structures and give it a mathematical language to predict properties such as boiling points, viscosity, the radius of gyrations etc. In this article, we study the chemical graph of carbon Crystal structure of graphite and cubic carbon and compute several degree-based topological indices. Firstly we compute M-Polynomials of these structures and then from these M-polynomials we recover nine degree-based topological indices.

The paper deals with the problem of choosing the best O&M strategy for wind power plants. Current maintenance theory considers just production opportunities and minimizes the maintenance costs, but with the liberalization of the electricity market also the electricity price has become an important variable to take into account in the O&M scheduling. Another important variables that is often neglected by the existing maintenance theory is the weather condition. This paper proposes a new strategy that takes into account the electricity price and weather conditions, improves the expected profit of the systems, and reduce the overall maintenance and logistic costs. The maintenance schedule is formalized as an optimization problem where the discounted cumulative profit of a wind generation portfolio in a fixed-time horizon (e.g. two years ahead), subject to the technologically-derived maintenance time constraints is optimized. Both the theoretical and computational aspects of the proposed O&M strategy are discussed. Results show that taking into account market and weather opportunities in the design of the maintenance strategy, it is possible to achieve a more complete scheduling for a given set of wind power plants.

African indigenous herbs and medicinal plants are extensively reported for their protective and therapeutic potential against Diabetes. However, most of the constituent phytochemicals that may account for the therapeutic activity are largely uninvestigated. Exploring novel phytochemical–target interactions in silico could help to provide useful insights into the mechanism underpinning the biological activities of these plants and their constituent phytochemicals. The aim of this study was to explore the interactions of terpene struc-tures previously reported from selected African antidiabetic with two emerging drug targets in diabetes. Structure-based virtual screening was used to screen 107 terpene structures against DPP-4 and PTP1B enzymes. The MD simulation, MM-GBSA free energy calculation and DFT were used to clarify the inter-actions of the in silico hits with the target enzymes. Molecular docking, post-docking Prime MM-GBSA analysis revealed the top terpenes with high binding affinity with the active site regions of DPP-4 and PTP1B. Ensemble docking revealed three triterpenes viz: cucurbitacin B (T1), 6-Oxoisoiguesterin (T4) and 20-Epi-isoiguesterinol (T2) as in silico hits which exhibit strong interaction potential with critical residues that define the catalytic triad (Ser630 and His740); oxyanion cavity (Ser631); hydrophobic S1 pocket (Tyr662) and the charged S2 pocket (Arg125) in the active site region of DPP-4. The interactions of these compounds with DPP-4 exhibited structural stability and conformational flexibility during 100 ns full atomistic MD simulation as indicated by the structure dynamics parameters including RMSD, RoG, SASA and hydrogen bond number. The post-MD MM/GBSA calculations further revealed the stability of the triterpene-DPP-4 complexes. Furthermore, Frontier molecular orbital calculations showed that, the triterpenes possess high interaction potential with the enzyme. The triterpenes showed desirable ADMET properties and drug-likeness. Therefore, cucurbitacin B, 6-Oxoisoiguesterin and 20-Epi-isoiguesterinol are recommended for experimental validation.

Trees in residential landscapes provide many benefits, but can injure persons and damage property when they fail. In hurricane-prone regions like Florida, USA, the regular occurrence of hurricanes has provided an opportunity to assess factors that influence the likelihood of wind-induced tree failure and develop species failure profiles. We assessed open-grown trees in Naples, Florida, following the passage of Hurricane Irma in September 2017 to determine the effect of relevant factors on the degree of damage sustained by individual trees. Of 4,034 assessed individuals (n = 15 species), 74% sustained no damage, 4% sustained only minor damage (i.e., minimal corrective pruning needed), 6% sustained significant damage (i.e., major corrective pruning needed), and 15% were whole tree failures (i.e., overturned trees or trees requiring removal). The proportion of individuals in each damage category varied among species, stem diameter at 1.4 m above ground, and the presence of utility lines, which was a proxy for maintenance. We compared our results with the findings of seven previous hurricanes in the region to explore species’ resilience in hurricanes.

Hydrogels have gained significant attention as vehicles for transdermal delivery systems. These polymeric-structured substances have been implemented in pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. Many factors are employed in their preparation. Light, pH, temperature and specific molecules ligands are commonly used in the production of hydrogels. The Transdermal delivery system (TDD) is a widely used route, used to deliver actives/drugs via the skin. Hydrogels as a TDD have been shown to be efficient in enhancing the efficacy in delivering the actives and drugs. The aim of this review is to discuss the hydrogels application in both dermatological therapeutic and cosmetic applications, covering the types, and properties of hydrogel polymer networks. Furthermore, this review presents one of the most extensively used polymers (Hyaluronic acid HA) in this field and discusses the properties, preparation methods and applications of HA hydrogel patches as a delivery system, including methods of loading the actives and the releasing of these actives from them.

The changes in the properties of three biological events, that occur with cerebral aging, are discussed. These adverse changes already begin to develop early in mid-life and gradually become more pronounced with senescence. Essentially, they are reflections of the progressive decline in effectiveness of key processes, resulting in the deviation of essential biochemical trajectories to ineffective and ultimately harmful variants of these programs. The emphasis of this review is the major role played by mitochondria in such transition of these three important processes toward more deleterious variants as brain aging proceeds. 1. The immune system. The shift away from an efficient immune response to a more unfocused, continuing inflammatory condition. Such a state is both ineffective and harmful. 2. Reactive oxygen species are important intracellular signaling systems. Also, microglial phagocytic activity utilizing short lived reactive oxygen species contribute to the removal of aberrant or dead cells and bacteria. These processes are transformed into an excessive, untargeted and persistent generation of pro-oxidant free radicals (oxidative stress). 3. The normal efficient neural transmission is modified to a state of undirected, chronic low-level excitatory activity. Each of these changes is characterized by the occurrence of continuous activity that is inefficient and diffuse. The signal/noise ratio of several critical biological events is thus reduced as beneficial responses are gradually replaced by their impaired and deleterious variants.

The Drosophila spermatogenesis has the renewal of germline stem cells, meiosis of spermatocytes, and morphological transformation of spermatids into mature sperm. We previously demonstrated that Ocnus (ocn) plays an essential role in spermatogenesis. ValRS-m (Valyl-tRNA synthetase, mito-chondrial) gene was downregulated in ocn RNAi testes. By hatchability testing, we found that ValRS-m-knockdown induced complete sterility of male flies. We also concluded that ValRS-m-knockdown inhibited the transition from spermatogonia to spermatocytes and caused accumulated spermatogonia in testes. To understand the intrinsic reason for this destruction, we further conducted transcriptome sequencing analysis in ValRS-m RNAi testes. A total of 7710 dif-ferentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified to have at least a 2-fold change with a p-value of

In order to investigate the coordination chemistry of O-alkyl N-aryl thiocarbamate ligands, BiI3 has been reacted with two equivalents of MeOC(=S)N(H)Ph in MeCN solution to afford the dinuclear title compound complexes [{I2Bi(μ2-I)2BiI2}{1-MeOC(=S)N(H)Ph}4] 1. Compound 1 has been characterized by IR, UV and NMR spectroscopy, the dinuclear framework has be ascertained by a single-crystal X-ray diffraction study performed at 100 K.

Cyclin dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) has been primarily identified as a key cell cycle regulator in both mitosis and meiosis. Recently, an extramitotic function of CDK1 emerged when evidence was found that CDK1 is involved in many cellular events that are essential for cell proliferation and survival. In this review we summarize the involvement of active CDK1 in the initiation and elongation steps of protein synthesis in eukaryotes. During its activation CDK1 influences the initiation of protein synthesis, promotes the activity of specific translational initiation factors and affects the functioning of a subset of elongation factors. Our review provides insights into gene expression regulation during the transcriptionally silent cell cycle/M-phase and describes quantitative and qualitative translational changes based on the extramitotic role of the cell cycle master regulator CDK1, to optimize temporal synthesis of proteins to sustain division-related processes: mitosis and cytokinesis.

School-aged children may benefit from education interventions focused on healthy eating and physical activity to improve their quality of life. This article aims to review scientific evidence on food and nutrition education (FNE) in Spanish-speaking countries for the prevention of overweight and obesity in school-aged children (6-12 y). Articles were searched between April and August 2021. The searches were conducted using MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and SciELO. The primary search for articles focused on the experience of FNE interventions in Spanish-speaking countries. Overall, 518 articles were found and 33 studies were eligible for data extraction. Forty-two percent of the studies had a focus on FNE and 64% were focused on describing the eating habits of schoolchildren. Nutritional assessments (anthropometric) were found frequently with 91% and 30% of the studies focused on physical activity. All interventions focused on preventing or reducing overweight and obesity in school-age children. Educational, cognitive, dietary, and physical activity practices were described, whit being educational the most frequent intervention. Interventions reported positive effects of FNE interventions to improve knowledge and practices of healthy lifestyles in school-age children.

Real-time multi-axis distributed tactile sensing is a critical capability if robots are to perform stable gripping and dexterous manipulation, as it provides crucial information about the sensor-object interface. In this paper, we present an optical-based 6-axis tactile sensor designed in a fingertip shape for robotic dexterous manipulation. The distributed sensor can precisely estimate local XYZ force and displacement at ten distinct locations, and provide global XYZ force and torque measurements. Its compact size, comparable to that of a human thumb, and minimal thickness allow seamless integration onto existing robotic fingers, eliminating the need for complex modifications to the gripper. The proposed sensor design uses a simple, low-cost fabrication method. Moreover, the optical transduction approach uses light angle and intensity sensing to infer force and displacement from deformations of individual sensing units that form the overall sensor, providing distributed 6-axis sensing. The local force precision at each sensing unit in the X, Y, and Z axes is 20.89 mN, 19.19 mN, and 43.22 mN, respectively, over an local force range of approximately ±1.5 N in X and Y and 0 to -2 N in Z. The local displacement precision in the X, Y and Z axes is 56.70 μm, 50.18 μm and 13.83 μm, respectively, over a local displacement range of ±2 mm in the XY directions and 0 to -1.5mm in Z (i.e., compression). Additionally, the sensor can measure global torques, Tx, Ty and Tz, with a precision of of 1.90 N-mm, 1.54 N-mm and 1.26 N-mm, respectively. The fabricated design is showcased by integrating it with an OnRobot RG2 gripper and illustrating real-time measurements during in simple demonstration task which generate changing global forces and torques.

Sarcomas are a heterogenous group of tumours that commonly carry poor prognosis with limited therapeutic options. Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with sarcoma are a unique and under-studied patient population that have only achieved modest survival gains compared to other groups. We present our institutional experience of AYA with sarcoma who underwent comprehensive molecular profiling (CMP) using either large-panel targeted DNA sequencing or whole genome and transcriptome sequencing and evaluated the feasibility and clinical impact of this approach. Genomic variants detected were determined to be clinically relevant and actionable following the Molecular Tumour Board evaluation. Clinicians provided feedback regarding the utility of testing three months after reporting. Twenty-five patients who were recruited for CMP are included in this analysis. The median time from consent to final molecular report was 45 days (interquartile range 37-57). Potentially actionable variants were detected for 14 patients (56%) and new treatment recommendations were identified for 12 patients (48%). Pathogenic germline variants were identified in three patients (12%), and one patient had a change of diagnosis. Implementation for CMP for AYA with sarcoma is clinically valuable, feasible and should be increasingly integrated into routine clinical practice as technologies and turnaround times continue to improve.

Recently, there have been revolutions in the development of both gene therapy and genome surgical treatments for inherited diseases. Much of this progress has been centered around hereditary retinal dystrophies, because the eye is an immune-privileged and anatomically ideal target. Gene therapy treatments, already demonstrated to be safe and efficacious in numerous clinical trials, are benefitting from the development of new viral vectors, such as dual and triple AAVs. CRISPR/Ca9, which revolutionized the field of gene editing, is being adapted into more precise “high fidelity” and catalytically dead variants. New CRISPR endonucleases, such as CjCas9 and Cas12a, are generating excitement in the field as well. Stem cell therapy has emerged as a promising alternative, allowing human embryo derived stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells to be edited precisely in vitro and then reintroduced into the body. This article highlights recent progress made in gene therapy and genome surgery for retinal disorders, and it provides an update on precision medicine FDA treatment trials.

Mutations that provide environment dependent selective advantages drive adaptive divergence among species. Many phenotypic differences among related species are more likely to result from gene expression divergence rather than from non-synonymous mutations. In this regard, cis-regulatory mutations play an important part in generating functionally significant variation. Some proposed mechanisms that explore the role of cis-regulatory mutations in gene expression divergence involve microsatellites. Microsatellites exhibit high mutation rates and are abundant in both coding and non-coding regions and could influence gene function and products. Here we tested the hypothesis that microsatellites contribute to gene expression divergence among species with 50 individuals from nine closely related Helianthus species using an RNA-seq approach. Differential expression analyses of the transcriptomes revealed that genes containing microsatellites in non-coding regions (UTRs and introns) are more likely to be differentially expressed among species when compared to genes with microsatellites in the coding regions and transcripts lacking microsatellites. We detected a greater proportion of shared microsatellites in 5’UTRs and coding regions compared to 3’UTRs and non-coding transcripts among Helianthus spp. Further, allele frequency differences measured by pairwise FST at single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), indicate greater genetic divergence in transcripts containing microsatellites compared to those lacking microsatellites. A gene ontology (GO) analysis revealed that microsatellite-containing differentially expressed genes are significantly enriched for GO terms associated with regulation of transcription and transcription factor activity. Collectively, our study provides compelling evidence to support the role of microsatellites in gene expression divergence.

Critically ill patients treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) can present many abdominal conditions that need a prompt diagnosis and timely treatment because of their general frailty. Clinical evaluation and diagnostic tools like ultrasound or CT scan are not reliable or feasible in these patients. Bedside laparoscopy (BSL) is a minimally invasive procedure that allows surgeons to assess the abdominal cavity directly in the ICU, thus avoiding unnecessary exploratory laparotomy or incidence related to intra-hospital transfer. We conducted a review of the literature to summarize the state-of-the-art of BSL. Medline, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Scopus databases were utilized to identify all relevant publications. Indications, contraindications, technical aspects, and outcomes are discussed. The procedure is safe, feasible, and effective. When other diagnostic tools fail to diagnose or exclude an intra-abdominal condition in ICU patients, BSL should be preferred over exploratory laparotomy.

Cellular senescence has recently been recognized as a hallmark of cancer, reflecting its association with aging and inflammation, its role as a response to deregulated proliferation and oncogenic stress, and its induction by cancer therapies such as radiation, chemotherapy, and targeted agents. While such therapy-induced senescence (TIS) has been linked to resistance, recurrence, metastasis and normal tissue toxicity, TIS has the potential to enhance therapy response and stimulate anti-tumor immunity. In this review, we examine the Jekyll and Hyde nature of senescent cells (SnCs), with a particular focus on how their persistence while expressing the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) modulates the tumor microenvironment through autocrine and paracrine mechanisms. Via the SASP, the formation of SnCs may alternately mediate resistance or response to conventional therapy. Further, toward fulfilling the unmet potential of cancer immunotherapy, we consider how SnCs may influence tumor inflammation and serve as a source of antigen to potentiate anti-tumor immunity. This new view suggests treatment strategies based on inducing TIS to enhance immune checkpoint blockade. Finally, we describe strategies for mitigating the detrimental effects of senescence, such as modulating the SASP or targeting SnC persistence, toward enhancing the benefits of cancer treatment.

The application potential of cellulosic materials in natural composites and other fields needs to be explored to develop innovative, sustainable, lightweight, functional biomass materials that are also environmentally friendly. This study investigated Typha augostifolia (Typha sp.) as a potential new raw material for extracting cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) for application in wastewater treatment composites. Alkaline treatments and bleaching were used to remove cellulose from the stem fibers. The CNCs were then isolated from the recovered cellulose using acid hydrolysis. The study showed a few distinct functional groups (O-H, -C-H, =C-H and C-O, and C-O-C) in the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed the smooth surface of CPC and CNCs that resulted from removing lignin and hemicellulose from powdered Typha augostifolia. Based on the crystalline index, the powdered Typha augostifolia, CPC, and CNCs were 42.86%, 66.94% and 77.41%. The loss of the amorphous section of the Typha sp. fiber resulted in a decrease in particle size. It may be inferred from the features of a Typha sp. CNC that CNCs may be employed as reinforcement in composites for wastewater treatment.

Abstract: Herbicide flashback is an undesirable response that results in damage or mortality of non-target plants near chemically treated plants. In severe instances, crop trees can be injured resulting in financial loss or inability to capture management objectives. Land managers need to know the potential limitations of using triclopyr acid (50% solution in water) and what quantity can cause damage to non-target trees (trees not aimed to control via herbicide). Three naturally regenerated (previous clearcut) bottomland hardwood sites, ranging from 14–20 years of age, received partial overstory deadening using Trycera® herbicide. Residual “leave” trees experienced indirect herbicide uptake resulting in some trees either experiencing mortality or partial mortality with top die-back/epicormic branching. An increased probability of damage occurred as tree diameter decreased and the number of treated stems around non-target stems increased. American sycamore, green ash, and sweetgum were most susceptible to flashback. This study examines the unanticipated chemical effect of deadening adjacent stems surrounding residual leave trees in poorly drained soils.

The efficient recognition and classification of personal protective equipment are essential for en-suring the safety of personnel in complex industrial settings. Using the existing methods, manually performing macro-level classification and identification of personnel in intricate spheres is tedious, time-consuming, and inefficient. The availability of several artificial intelligence models in recent times presents a new paradigm shift in object classification and tracking in complex settings. In this study, several compact and efficient deep learning model architectures are explored, and a new efficient model is constructed by fusing the learning capabilities of the individual, efficient models for better object feature learning and optimal inferencing. The new model construct follows the contributory learning theory whereby each fussed model brings its learned features, which are then combined to obtain a more accurate and rapid model using normalized quantization-aware learning. During the investigation, a separable convolutional driven model was constructed as a base model, and then the various efficient architectures combined for the rapid identification and classification of the various hardhat classes used in complex industrial settings. A remarkable rapid classification and accuracy were recorded with the new resultant model.